Moral licensing and sustainable eating: Exploring mechanisms for rebound effects in dietary consumption choices
(2024) In IIIEE Master Thesis IMEM01 20241The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics
- Abstract
- Rebound effects, though well-documented in consumption areas such as household energy consumption, have been far less explored in nutrition. This is despite the fact that the nutrition may be just as crucial of a consumption area when considering how to reduce carbon footprints in personal lifestyle choices. This thesis explores the existence of one of the possible mechanisms behind a rebound effect in sustainable nutrition- the moral licensing effect. It does so through testing the following hypothesis - A causal relationship can be identified between (i) priming an individual with a moral licensing effect related to their sustainable dietary choices, and (ii) their subsequent decision, when given two consumption choices, to select the... (More)
- Rebound effects, though well-documented in consumption areas such as household energy consumption, have been far less explored in nutrition. This is despite the fact that the nutrition may be just as crucial of a consumption area when considering how to reduce carbon footprints in personal lifestyle choices. This thesis explores the existence of one of the possible mechanisms behind a rebound effect in sustainable nutrition- the moral licensing effect. It does so through testing the following hypothesis - A causal relationship can be identified between (i) priming an individual with a moral licensing effect related to their sustainable dietary choices, and (ii) their subsequent decision, when given two consumption choices, to select the less sustainable one; as well as through answering two research questions: To what kind of individual consumption behaviour do sustainable dietary choices lead to? And How can a possible moral licensing effect related to sustainable dietary choices be measured from a research design standpoint? A mixed method intervention design consisting of a quasi-experiment through an online survey setting with an N of 101 participants, followed by semi-structured online interviews with an N of 5 participants was used. Findings were mixed, showing in the quantitative part no evidence for the moral licensing effect, whilst showing some in the qualitative part. Results further showed the co-existence of the moral licensing effect with its counter-phenomenon, the positive behavioural spillover effect – which predicts that a good environmental deed will lead to additional good environmental deeds, creating a ‘virtuous circle’. Findings also highlighted the limitations of using a sequential behaviour paradigm to investigate moral licensing effects related to sustainable consumptions, notably regarding the highly subjective costs of different consumption areas. These last two findings should be kept in mind by policymakers and academics alike, as it may no longer be advisable to view the moral licensing and the behavioural spillover effect in silos. Lastly, new research design avenues should be considered for questions related to sustainable consumption behaviours. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9170900
- author
- Paumier-Bianco, Ines-Sophie LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- IMEM01 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Sustainable consumption, moral licensing effect, rebound effect, positive behavioural spillover effect, sustainable dietary choices
- publication/series
- IIIEE Master Thesis
- report number
- 2024.12
- ISSN
- 1401-9191
- language
- English
- id
- 9170900
- date added to LUP
- 2024-08-01 13:38:43
- date last changed
- 2024-08-01 13:38:43
@misc{9170900,
abstract = {{Rebound effects, though well-documented in consumption areas such as household energy consumption, have been far less explored in nutrition. This is despite the fact that the nutrition may be just as crucial of a consumption area when considering how to reduce carbon footprints in personal lifestyle choices. This thesis explores the existence of one of the possible mechanisms behind a rebound effect in sustainable nutrition- the moral licensing effect. It does so through testing the following hypothesis - A causal relationship can be identified between (i) priming an individual with a moral licensing effect related to their sustainable dietary choices, and (ii) their subsequent decision, when given two consumption choices, to select the less sustainable one; as well as through answering two research questions: To what kind of individual consumption behaviour do sustainable dietary choices lead to? And How can a possible moral licensing effect related to sustainable dietary choices be measured from a research design standpoint? A mixed method intervention design consisting of a quasi-experiment through an online survey setting with an N of 101 participants, followed by semi-structured online interviews with an N of 5 participants was used. Findings were mixed, showing in the quantitative part no evidence for the moral licensing effect, whilst showing some in the qualitative part. Results further showed the co-existence of the moral licensing effect with its counter-phenomenon, the positive behavioural spillover effect – which predicts that a good environmental deed will lead to additional good environmental deeds, creating a ‘virtuous circle’. Findings also highlighted the limitations of using a sequential behaviour paradigm to investigate moral licensing effects related to sustainable consumptions, notably regarding the highly subjective costs of different consumption areas. These last two findings should be kept in mind by policymakers and academics alike, as it may no longer be advisable to view the moral licensing and the behavioural spillover effect in silos. Lastly, new research design avenues should be considered for questions related to sustainable consumption behaviours.}},
author = {{Paumier-Bianco, Ines-Sophie}},
issn = {{1401-9191}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
series = {{IIIEE Master Thesis}},
title = {{Moral licensing and sustainable eating: Exploring mechanisms for rebound effects in dietary consumption choices}},
year = {{2024}},
}