A light bulb goes on: Norms, rhetoric, and actions for the public good

Abstract This paper explores whether invoking social norms, in the context of a persuasive appeal, affects individuals' willingness to take action for the public good. The framework I develop brings together a host of factors treated as distinct in past work, including attitudes, rhetoric, and social norms. I test predictions from this framework in an experiment that focuses on a particularly important behavioractions regarding the consumption of energy. I find that highlighting norms in the context of an appeal for energy conservation increases the importance individuals' associate with these actions, intentions to conserve energy, and actual behavior on a light-bulb purchasing decision. The findings have implications more generally for understanding when individuals take actions that promote the public good. Keywords Social norms Á Persuasive appeals Á Collective action Á Energy conservation A fundamental problem in societies involves how best to coordinate behavior for the provision of public goods-things that benefit everyone but which no one has an individual incentive to provide. Governments exist, in part, to serve this role; but how governments determine what laws and regulations need to be in place depends, largely, on citizens actions in areas of their lives that sometimes involve choices about whether to assume personal costs for a collective good. When do individuals take these actions? Why do some, but not all, citizens make sacrifices for the sake of the public good? These questions are of obvious importance for those interested in political behavior; however, little work-other than research on T. Bolsen (&) Department of Political Science, Georgia State University, 38 Peachtree Center Ave., Suite 1005, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA e-mail: [email protected] 123 Polit Behav DOI 10.1007/s11109-011-9186-5 participation-examines the impact of messages that highlight social norms on individuals' decisions to which the government has an incentive to attend. This paper explores how such appeals influence private choices that have clear political consequences: actions regarding the consumption of energy. I begin by identifying the factors that contribute to individuals' decisions to take collective actions. The framework I develop brings together a host of factors treated as distinct in past work. This includes existing attitudes and beliefs Private Actions for the Public Good I focus on the determinants of behavior taken to secure a public good. A public good is something that cannot feasibly be withheld from others in a group if it is provided for any member of that group 2 Having specified my dependent variables, I next move to the determinants of taking action for the public good. A person's attitude toward a behavior often is a powerful predictor of action 3 A person's attitude toward a behavior is primarily a function of beliefs about its likely consequences (Ajzen and Fishbein 2005, p. 199). For instance, a person's attitude toward taking action to conserve energy might stem from considerations about the economic and/or environmental implications. Aside from the direct attitude toward a behavior, there are two other attitudes that derive from the public goods aspects of energy conservation that are likely to influence action: one's attitude about the importance and efficacy of personal action. An attitude's importance refers to its perceived significance. Important attitudes have been shown to guide actions such as voting, writing letters to public officials, and making donations to political organizations (Boninger et al. 1995, p. 62). Second, efficacy refers to the extent to which individuals believe that their actions have an influence on the collective outcome. Research on protest behavior and environmental activism indicates that individuals consider not only the personal costs and benefits resulting from an action, as in traditional expected-utility theory, but also one's perceived personal influence over collective outcomes, whether the group is likely to succeed, and the expected reciprocity of others Polit Behav 123 Invoking Norms in Appeals for Action A vast literature demonstrates that rhetoric-i.e., verbal or textual communications targeting attitude change-can shape individuals' attitudes and preferences 5 A number of studies demonstrate that exposure to persuasive messages can directly impact political behavior. For instance, Druckman and Parkin A growing literature explores the impact of highlighting social norms in the context of appeals for actions such as voting Multiple psychological processes may account for the impact of invoking behavioral norms in appeals for collective action. In a recent study that focuses on how perceptions about mass opinion influences individuals' beliefs about five nonelectoral issues, Sonck and Loosveldt (2010) make an important distinction between explanations that involve high-level-information-processing and those that involve low-level-information-processing. When individuals closely attend to information regarding appropriate norms (i.e., ''high-level'' processing), the impact of invoking norms may stem from (a) information about the costs and benefits of alternative courses of action (Ajzen and Experiment: Participants, Design, Procedures To test the predictions stated above, I implemented an experiment. The experiment included two manipulations: (1) the content of an appeal associated with personal energy conservation, and (2) whether a norm regarding conservation was made salient. I chose not to vary the direction of the normative treatment because all related prior work explores how norms promote-rather than discourageenvironmentally significant actions Rhetoric Manipulation I randomly assigned participants to read one of two versions of an editorial they were told had appeared recently in the Chicago Tribune. One version of the editorial emphasized the importance of consumers taking steps to conserve energy. The second version focused on the relatively small impact that consumer decisionssuch as purchasing energy efficient light bulbs-have on the nation's overall configuration of energy resources. Moreover, this version argued that asking consumers to pay more for energy-efficient technologies would do little to foster a transition away from a reliance on fossil fuels. Although both versions of the appeal advocate the need for action on energy conservation, the articles differ in terms of who is assigned responsibility for dealing with the extant problem-i.e., consumers Pro-consumer action editorial Pro-Norm ? Pro-Consumer Appeal Pro-Consumer Action Appeal Pro-government action editorial Pro-Norm ? Pro-Government Action Appeal Pro-Government Action Appeal 7 The four locations were: Evanston, IL; Warrenville, IL; Mount Prospect, IL; and, Lovington, IL. I transported the laptops to businesses, libraries, and community centers that generously agreed to provide a conference room to conduct the experimental sessions. Collecting data from multiple sites increased the heterogeneity of my sample; however, the location of administrative sites may have depressed the validity of some of the measurement scales described below because of increased opportunity to conserve energy in urban areas (e.g., access to public transportation). 8 See Polit Behav 123 versus government-as well as the importance associated with taking personal action. The content of the messages was based on an analysis of news stories, public service announcements, and appeals advocating energy conservation over time 1970 Pro-Norm Manipulation Prior to each session, I randomly assigned each session to include a pro-energy conservation norm or no norm. To invoke a pro-conservation norm, participants attending a pro-norm session read a ''press release'' about the results from a recent survey of Illinois residents. The press release stated that the ''vast majority of Illinois residents support energy conservation'' and ''over 90%'' agree that it is important for ''all Americans to make energy efficient consumption decisions. '' 10 Participants attending a pro-norm session were also informed that there would be a brief group discussion about their responses and purchasing decision at the conclusion of the study. Participants assigned to the control sessions were informed that their responses were confidential and that they could leave upon completing the final battery of questions. In sum, the normative manipulation merged two pieces of information: (1) a description of the attitudes of local residents about energy conservation, and (2) instructions about whether one's actions will be monitored by others. Procedures and Measures At the beginning of each session, all participants were given written instructions detailing the procedures involved, and agreed to participate by signing an 9 Subjects in the pre-test were asked to evaluate one of two versions of an editorial and whether it encourages or discourages ''individuals taking personal steps to reduce energy consumption'' (on a 7-point scale where 1 = ''definitely opposes taking steps'' and 7 = ''definitely supports taking steps''). Subjects did perceive differences as to whether the editorial advocates or discourages taking personal steps to reduce energy consumption (p \ .001), with the mean score for the pro-action editorial at 6.09 and the mean score for the no-action editorial at 2.74. In addition, individuals were asked to assess whether reading each editorial would decrease or increase their likelihood of conserving energy (on a 7 point scale where 1 = ''definitely decreases likelihood'' and 7 = ''definitely increases likelihood''). The means for this question were 5.12 after reading the pro-action editorial and 3.59 after reading the editorial questioning the importance of taking personal steps (p \ .001). Both articles were rated as equally easy to read and understand, and there were no differences in perceptions of how effective the editorials were in terms of making the case for conservation (means of 4.91 and 4.56 on a seven point scale for ''how effective each article is in making its case''). 10 In contrast, participants assigned to no-norms sessions read an unrelated press release. The full text of each press release is included in the Appendix. 11 This ensures that individuals have knowledge about prevailing behavioral standards in a decision context and a belief that their expressed intentions and actions are subject to monitoring by others. I acknowledge that this may also induce social desirability effects in which respondents seek to behave in socially desirable ways (see Polit Behav 123 IRB-approved consent form. The instructions explained that the study focused on attitudes about U.S. energy policy, and that each participant would complete a background questionnaire, read a press release and a newspaper editorial, and answer a few questions about what they read. The instructions further explained that each participant would be given an envelope with 20 in cash after completing all questions, and that a final decision in the study involved using a portion of that cash to make a purchase. Following completion of the initial battery of questions, participants read a press release followed by an editorial. Participants then responded to a battery of questions measuring key constructs. To measure each respondent's attitude toward purchasing energy efficient light bulbs, participants responded to the question ''do you think the benefits to the environment are enough to justify paying at least twice as much for a compact fluorescent light bulb as for a traditional bulb?'' Attitude toward CFLs is a dichotomous measure coded 1 if participants answered ''yes'' to this question and 0 if they said ''no.'' Participants also responded to several questions measuring the importance of taking action to conserve energy (1-7, unimportant/important scale): ''how critical is it for people in general to take personal steps to reduce energy consumption if we want to solve our nation's energy problems''; ''how important are the economic effects of personal energy consumption''; and, ''how important are the environmental effects of personal energy consumption?'' These items were combined into a single measure for attitude importance (alpha = .66). Beliefs about the collective efficacy of conservation were assessed by measuring the degree to which participants agreed or disagreed with the following statements (1-4 disagree/agree scale): ''I believe my actions have an influence on the nation's energy situation''; ''My actions to help the nation achieve energy independence encourage others in my community to take actions that will lead to greater energy independence.'' The first item taps perceptions of personal influence on collective outcomes and the second item focuses on the expected reciprocity of others. These items were combined into a single measure of beliefs about the collective efficacy (alpha = .76) of action to secure a public good. Participants also completed a battery of questions measuring their intentions related to energy conservation. The questions asked how likely it is that ''you will perform [an action] in the forthcoming month or year'' (1-7, likely/unlikely scale). Specific actions included: (1) reducing the number of miles you drive, (2) replacing an incandescent light bulb with an energy-efficient bulb, (3) adjusting the thermostat, (4) using alternatives other than driving (e.g. walking, carpooling, public transit), (5) turning off lights and appliances when not in use, (6) weatherizing or insulating your apartment or home before winter, (7) purchasing an energy efficient appliance, and (8) purchasing a more fuel-efficient vehicle. The first five actions were combined to create a single measure of energy curtailment intentions (alpha = .68), while the latter three intentions were combined to create a single measure for intentions to make capital investments into energy-efficiencyi.e., investment intentions (alpha = .68). 12 I measured the maximum amount 12 These terms have been used previously by scholars to distinguish between distinct classes of energy conservation Polit Behav 123 participants were willing-to-pay for 1 energy efficient light bulb (WTP for CFL). 13 After entering a response, participants received a final set of instructions stipulating that there was one task to complete. Participants were given an envelope with 20 dollars cash. They were informed that a portion of the cash should be used to purchase a package of light bulbs that they could take home, along with the cash remaining in the envelope. The final instructions stated, ''You may choose a package with four standard light bulbs for a cost of $1, or you may choose a package with two energy efficient light bulbs at a cost of$5.'' After making the purchase, individuals attending a no-norms session signed a receipt and were allowed to leave; individuals assigned to the pro-norms sessions were asked to remain seated until others had finished for the group discussion. Light bulb purchase is a variable coded 1 if the CFL package was chosen and 0 if the standard package was purchased. Results I begin by reporting the distribution of responses on the main dependent variables across conditions in Polit Behav 123 purchased the package of energy efficient bulbs, and 23% purchased the standard package. Notably, across all dependent measures the combination of the proconservation norm and the pro-consumer-action editorial produced the highest level of intentions to conserve energy. To test the hypotheses stated above, I estimated a series of regressions to assess the impact of the experimental treatments on participants' attitudes and behaviors. I present the results from these estimations in a path model in order to show how attitudes mediate the direct impact of my treatments on behavioral intentions and purchasing behavior (see, e.g., Druckman and Parkin 2005). To avoid presenting an overly complicated path, I simplify the model in the following ways. First, I do not report paths that proved insignificant. 15 Second, I exclude all demographic and values measures. The inclusion of these measures does not affect the results, and the additional analyses are available upon request. 123 not only influences one's direct attitude toward purchasing CFLs, but also the importance and efficacy associated with energy conservation. Relative to the baseline condition (No Norm ? Government Responsibility Appeal), the combination of the pro norm message and the pro consumer action appeal increased the perceived importance associated with energy conservation 7% and the efficacy associated with action 13% (p \ .05). 16 In addition, even when the pro-norm message is coupled with the appeal arguing that the government and not consumers needs to take action, participants are significantly more likely to perceive personal energy conservation as efficacious and express a significantly more favorable attitude toward buying energy-efficient light bulbs (see the positive and significant effects of Pro-Norm ? Pro-Gov Appeal in Although the experimental conditions have direct main effects on the behavioral intention measures on the right hand side of A final decision in the experiment involved participants using a portion of the cash received for taking part in the study ($20) to purchase a package of light bulbs. Each participant was informed he or she should use a portion of their remuneration to purchase either a 4-pack of standard light bulbs for$1 or a 2-pack of energy efficient (CFL) bulbs for $5. A clear majority of respondents chose the package of CFL bulbs (77%); however, there were interesting differences in purchasing behavior across conditions (se

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