An explanation of the behavioral origin of moderation in the use of natural resources: a meta-synthesis study

Walter Salas-Zapata (), Anny Posada-Castaño and Diana Mejía-Durango
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Walter Salas-Zapata: University of Antioquia
Anny Posada-Castaño: University of Antioquia
Diana Mejía-Durango: University of Antioquia

Environment Systems and Decisions, 2021, vol. 41, issue 4, 487-500

Abstract: Abstract Natural resources are a type of good whose individual utility maximization is not desirable, as it could lead to their depletion. This problem, raised several decades ago by Hardin, is known as the Tragedy of the Commons. According to Hardin, if individuals moderated the use of natural resources, the problem could be solved, but this is hard to achieve. Economic studies have focused on how individuals can reduce the use of certain natural resources from the perspective of natural resources, public sector, and institutional economics. However, behavioral explanations are scarce. The study of feedback processes may give insights on this phenomenon. This meta-synthesis study aims at establishing explanatory mechanisms on the origin of people’s moderation when using natural resources. This study found four mechanisms: (1) feedback on a natural resource or ecosystem state, (2) feedback on other people’s actions, (3) feedback on the consequences of one’s actions, and (4) feedback on goals/objectives and expectations. This interconnectedness may occur through information technologies, written reports, other people’s feedback, or directly through the senses. Our results may represent an extension of Tversky & Kahneman’s model and, given their environmental application, it also represents an extension of Festinger’s social comparison theory. These results also imply that an alternative for the development of environmental and natural resources policies is to design them as systems that provide feedback so that these promote moderation in people.

Keywords: Decision Making; Sustainability; Behavioral Economics; Feedback; Ecosystems; Behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/s10669-021-09820-4

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