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Making Small Numbers Count: Environmental and Financial Feedback in Promoting Eco-driving Behaviours

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Abstract

Energy conservation results in environmental (reduced emissions) and financial (reduced costs) savings. Consumers’ perception of the worthiness of changes in behaviour may differ depending on whether environmental or financial savings are emphasized. The current study investigated the effects of using either environmental or financial feedback in the context of eco-driving. Participants evaluated six scenarios describing different eco-driving behaviours. Participants in experimental groups were informed about either the environmental or financial savings realized by adopting the behaviours. A control group did not receive information on possible savings. Results indicated that, unlike commonly assumed, environmental savings are considered more worthwhile than commensurate financial savings. Yet, intentions to adopt eco-driving behaviours were mainly sensitive to the presence of feedback per se, rather than the content of feedback. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

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Notes

  1. Financial savings were calculated based on oil price per litre in the Netherlands at the time of the study.

  2. A second between-subjects independent variable in the current study was time span of savings. We did not observe differences between framing savings in the short and long terms. We therefore collapsed the data across these groups.

  3. We could not establish whether feedback type influenced intention via worthiness as our data do not support an important precondition to establish mediation: the relationship between feedback type (environmental vs. financial) and intention was not significant for all behaviours.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. VeDeCoM Institute, Versailles, France

    Ebru Dogan

  2. Department of Economics, Business, and Marketing, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

    Jan Willem Bolderdijk

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

    Linda Steg

Authors
  1. Ebru Dogan
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  2. Jan Willem Bolderdijk
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  3. Linda Steg
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ebru Dogan.

Appendix

Appendix

Avoiding idling

 As you approach a level crossing in your car, you hear the bell signalling that a train is approaching. The level crossing will be closed for a minute. If you turn off the engine of your car while you are waiting, you would save 0.018 kg CO 2 emissions/€ 0.05.

Speed reduction

 You are driving on a motorway with a 120-km/h speed limit. You still have 100 km to reach your destination. If you drive 100 km/h instead of 120 km/h, you would save 2.40 kg CO 2 emissions/€ 1.70 for this trip.

Overtaking

 You are driving on a motorway with a 120-km/h speed limit. You still have to travel 80 km to reach your destination. The cars in front of you drive between 100 and 110 km/h. There are opportunities to safely overtake. If you do not overtake the cars in front of you, you would save 1.92 kg CO 2 emissions/€ 1.35 for this trip.

Air conditioning

 You are travelling by your car on a warm day. You still have 40 km to go. You consider turning on the air conditioner. If you keep the air conditioner off, you would save 0.56 kg of CO 2 emissions/€ 0.44 for this trip.

Roof rack

 You have a roof rack installed on your car. You will need the roof rack again in a month. You consider keeping the roof rack on your car during this month. If you remove the roof rack now and re-install it when you need it, you would save 1.96 kg CO 2 emission/€ 1.20 during this month.

Tyre pressure

 You have not checked your tyres for some time and notice your tyres are underinflated. If you check the tyre pressure of your vehicle regularly on a monthly basis from now on, you would save 1.47 kg of CO 2 emissions/€ 0.90 over a month.

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Dogan, E., Bolderdijk, J.W. & Steg, L. Making Small Numbers Count: Environmental and Financial Feedback in Promoting Eco-driving Behaviours. J Consum Policy 37, 413–422 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-014-9259-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-014-9259-z

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