Differences in How and Why Social Comparison and Real-Time Feedback Impact Resource Use: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Mark Andor, Lorenz Goette, Michael Price, Anna Schulze Tilling and Lukas Tomberg

No 31845, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We compare the behavior and welfare effects of two popular interventions for resource conservation. The first intervention is social comparison reports (SC), which primarily provide consumers with information motivating behavioral change. The second intervention is real-time feedback (RTF), which primarily provides consumers with information facilitating behavioral change. In a field experiment with around 1,000 participants, we directly observe the interventions’ effects on participants’ behavior. Further, we elicit participants’ willingness to pay for receiving the interventions, both before and after having experienced them for one month. We find that SC leads to a reduction in water use per shower by 9.4%, RTF by 28.8%, and the combination (BOTH) by 35.0%. Our willingness to pay results show that all interventions are highly valued by participants and that willingness to pay for RTF and BOTH is significantly higher than for SC. Furthermore, we find that the valuation of the interventions do not change following one-month experience. Our results suggest that while both interventions improve welfare, providing consumers with information facilitating behavioral change achieves a higher impact and a slightly higher welfare increase than providing consumers with information motivating behavioral change.

JEL-codes: C93 D12 Q25 Q55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-exp, nep-hrm and nep-nud
Note: EEE PE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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