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Assessing the impacts of social norms on low-carbon mobility options

Mundaca, Luis LU ; Román-Collado, Rocío and Cansino, José M. (2022) In Energy Policy 162.
Abstract

Policymakers and scientists are paying increasing attention to how social norms can promote pro-environmental behaviour and sustainable energy use. We contribute to this field by experimenting with and assessing the impacts of social norms on low-carbon mobility options. Taking Sweden as a case study, we develop two complementary randomised controlled experiments to: 1) analyse the role of social norms in promoting the adoption of car sharing services (CSS) via descriptive and injunctive norms (N = 720); and 2) investigate potential crowd out effects when injunctive norms are used to promote a low-carbon transport hierarchy (N = 730). First-order effects show that social norms have a positive but marginal impact on the willingness to... (More)

Policymakers and scientists are paying increasing attention to how social norms can promote pro-environmental behaviour and sustainable energy use. We contribute to this field by experimenting with and assessing the impacts of social norms on low-carbon mobility options. Taking Sweden as a case study, we develop two complementary randomised controlled experiments to: 1) analyse the role of social norms in promoting the adoption of car sharing services (CSS) via descriptive and injunctive norms (N = 720); and 2) investigate potential crowd out effects when injunctive norms are used to promote a low-carbon transport hierarchy (N = 730). First-order effects show that social norms have a positive but marginal impact on the willingness to adopt CSS, and only injunctive norms have the potential to steer behaviour in the desired direction. Results also suggest that concerns about potential substitution effects between low-carbon transport options and CSS are not valid. With due limitations, our findings have various implications for policymaking, notably that for social norms to be effective, other policy instruments are critically needed. Of particular importance are the environmental effectiveness of CSS and complementarities between public transport and active mobility (i.e. walking and cycling).

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Active mobility, Behavioural economics, Car sharing, Energy and climate policy, Low-carbon transport, Social norms, Sweden
in
Energy Policy
volume
162
article number
112814
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85123890774
ISSN
0301-4215
DOI
10.1016/j.enpol.2022.112814
project
Sharing Behaviour
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
a931b653-f440-494c-80b4-d97b9e7cbedf
date added to LUP
2022-02-18 08:46:15
date last changed
2022-04-21 01:25:32
@article{a931b653-f440-494c-80b4-d97b9e7cbedf,
  abstract     = {{<p>Policymakers and scientists are paying increasing attention to how social norms can promote pro-environmental behaviour and sustainable energy use. We contribute to this field by experimenting with and assessing the impacts of social norms on low-carbon mobility options. Taking Sweden as a case study, we develop two complementary randomised controlled experiments to: 1) analyse the role of social norms in promoting the adoption of car sharing services (CSS) via descriptive and injunctive norms (N = 720); and 2) investigate potential crowd out effects when injunctive norms are used to promote a low-carbon transport hierarchy (N = 730). First-order effects show that social norms have a positive but marginal impact on the willingness to adopt CSS, and only injunctive norms have the potential to steer behaviour in the desired direction. Results also suggest that concerns about potential substitution effects between low-carbon transport options and CSS are not valid. With due limitations, our findings have various implications for policymaking, notably that for social norms to be effective, other policy instruments are critically needed. Of particular importance are the environmental effectiveness of CSS and complementarities between public transport and active mobility (i.e. walking and cycling).</p>}},
  author       = {{Mundaca, Luis and Román-Collado, Rocío and Cansino, José M.}},
  issn         = {{0301-4215}},
  keywords     = {{Active mobility; Behavioural economics; Car sharing; Energy and climate policy; Low-carbon transport; Social norms; Sweden}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Energy Policy}},
  title        = {{Assessing the impacts of social norms on low-carbon mobility options}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2022.112814}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.enpol.2022.112814}},
  volume       = {{162}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}