Complementarities in behavioral interventions: Evidence from a field experiment on resource conservation

Arbeitspapier

Behavioral policy often aims at influencing behavior by mitigating biases due to, e.g., imperfect information or inattention. We study how this is affected by the simultaneous presence of multiple biases arising from different sources, through a field experiment on resource conservation in an energy-and water-intensive everyday activity (showering). One intervention, shower energy reports, primarily targeted knowledge about environmental impacts; another intervention, real-time feedback, primarily targeted salience of resource use. We find a striking complementarity. While only the latter induced significant conservation effects when implemented in isolation, each intervention became more effective when implemented jointly. This is consistent with predictions from a theoretical framework that highlights the importance of targeting all relevant sources of bias to achieve behavioral change.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: Discussion Papers of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods ; No. 2023/13

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: General‡ ; Energy: Demand and Supply; Prices
• Thema: behavioral public policy ; pro-environmental behavior ; limited attention ; information provision ; real-time feedback ; policy interactions

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Fang, Ximeng ; Götte, Lorenz ; Rockenbach, Bettina ; Sutter, Matthias ; Tiefenbeck, Verena ; Schoeb, Samuel ; Staake, Thorsten
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods
• (wo): Bonn
• (wann): 2023

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/283136
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:42 MEZ