How much versus who: which social norms information is more effective?

C-Tier
Journal: Applied Economics
Year: 2016
Volume: 48
Issue: 5
Pages: 389-401

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We conduct an experiment to investigate how different types of information about social norms affect individuals' stated contributions to a specific pro-environment program, a student 'green fee', in the context of a referendum. Compared to students that receive no information about peer contributions, on average, students that receive information about the dollar value range of contributions at peer institutions contribute less while students that learn about the high percentage of students voting 'yes' on green fee programs at peer institutions contribute more. The results are economically significant as the absolute values of both effects represent approximately 25% of average contributions. These results suggest that information about participation rates can be more effective than information about dollar amounts in encouraging contributions to environmental initiatives. Of interest to stated preference researchers, we find that results do not change when controlling for self-selection into survey completion.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:taf:applec:v:48:y:2016:i:5:p:389-401
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-26