A local versus global descriptive social norm: A DCE applied to waste sorting behavior in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Lucie Poinet and Pierre-Alexandre Mahieu

No 2024.09, Working Papers from FAERE - French Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

Abstract: Previous literature has widely explored the influence of descriptive social norms on individualsÕ pro-environmental behavior. However, despite a growing interest in the subject, the role of geographical proximity of the reference group remains unclear. Our study seeks to fill this gap by investigating the impact of a descriptive social norm at two scales: local (neighborhood), and global (city). In this aim, we incorporate descriptive norms as attributes in a discrete choice survey. Our findings reveal that only the local social norm exerts a significant influence on organic waste sorting behavior, while the global social norm does not show a significant effect at conventional statistical levels. These results highlight the importance of considering the geographical proximity of the reference group when studying descriptive social norms. The policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Keywords: Descriptive Social Norm; Local Social Norm; Discrete Choice Experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C99 D91 Q51 Q53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2024-10
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fae:wpaper:2024.09

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