Research project CP/15 (Research action CP)
Context
Sustainable consumption patterns in individual consumers are obviously in society’s best interest. Therefore, governments (and some government supported organizations) serve as social marketers, using marketing tools to promote the consideration of ‘brotherhood’ in everyday consumer actions. Government-as-a-marketer can use communication instruments, but often has to refer to regulatory actions and direct influence on prices of different behavioral options to accomplish. After all, initiating and persisting with sustainable behavior is difficult for any consumer, because the behavior tends to clashes with self-interest. Some will realize the importance of behaving in ways that are responsible to the environment and the well-being of others, even when separated in time or space. Still, sustainable behaviors are often repetitive everyday behaviors, and sometimes self-interest will creep back in. For other consumers, self-interest will always dominate.
Our project proposal deals with two major questions of general importance to the social marketing of brotherhood.
Project description
Objectives
First, we want to investigate which kind of communication is best suited to induce sustainable behaviors in consumers who also have more selfish options. Traditionally, the government’s position has been that of an advocate, trying to convince consumers to take the collective interest into account. Social marketing of the traditional kind is the art of presenting convincing arguments, trying to make consumers change their minds about what is the best thing to do. We suspect that this approach is not optimal. Thinking about options activates the pros but also the cons of each behavioral option, including the self-interested one. We propose an alternative approach that uses the principle of priming, heavily studied in social psychology. Priming is the art of unobtrusively bringing subtle cues in the environment, which activate available prosocial memory content, and subtly guide behavior in prosocial directions, typically without the recipient of the information being aware. We will investigate experimentally the scope of the applicability of the priming technique. More in particular we want to investigate whether general ‘pro-sustainable’ priming messages are effective, and how effective they are in comparison with messages designed for a specific behavior. After all, not all sustainable behaviors are the same, and it may be that someone sensitive to one issue is completely insensitive to an other. We also want to investigate the precise role of the social context of the behavior. Our current results suggest that primes affect inferences about what other people will do, but they do so in an experimental task requiring attention to the behavior of these others. Not all sustainable behaviors are like that (most are not). Does unobtrusive priming still work if the others are a mere audience of a consumer’s behavior?
Our second objective is to study how the social marketer should combine communication with direct behavior modification techniques (pricing, regulations) championed by lawyers and economists. Carrots and sticks are required because there are some who are not to be convinced of the collective interest in any other way. But what happens to those for whom the carrots and sticks were not necessary? The available evidence suggests that they will take a step backwards. They will now justify their behavior on the basis of the rules or price advantages of sustainable behavior, and lose intrinsic motivation. We introduce the practice of social labeling as a potential solution to this problem. Labeling is a summary for any social marketing intervention suggesting consumers that their behavior is due to the kind of person they are. Some limited evidence suggests that labeling my foster persistence of behavior, because it makes consumers see their sustainable behavior as their own motivated choice, not forced by the environment. The second part of our proposal is an extensive study of the usefulness and limits of this technique. We want to investigate which type of carrot-and-stick approach can benefit most from labeling effects, and we also look at how specific and how explicit labels should be to have the desired effect.
Interaction between the different partners
It is our intention to conduct every aspect of the research jointly.
Expected results
Our ambition is to publish our results in the top international journals in both social psychology and marketing/consumer behavior.
The project will enable us to produce two doctorates, one at KULeuven, one at UCL.
Theoretical results need translation to policy. We therefore plan ‘managerial guidelines’ reports for submission to publications with a practitioner audience. Obviously, we also want to publish the products of our research as OSTC research reports
Partners
Activities
For practical purposes, the Leuven team will coordinate the data collection and analysis of the section 1 studies. The studies described in section 2 will be initiated in Louvain-la-Neuve, as they will probably be part of the doctoral work of the research, UPSO will hire for this project. Later in the project, studies may be conducted in both places, depending on subject and lab availability.
Coordinates/Details
Luk Warlop, KULeuven, Departement Toegepaste Economie, Naamsestraat 69, B-3000 Leuven, Tel: +32 (0)16 32 69 41; Fax: +32 (0)16 32 67 32,
luk.warlop@econ.kuleuven.ac.be, http://www.econ.kuleuven.ac.be/tew/academic/market/members/LukWarlop.htm
Vincent Yzerbyt, Université Catholique de Louvain, Département de Psychologie, Place du Cardinal Mercier 10, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Tel: +32 (0)10 47 43 76;
Fax: +32 (0)10 47 37 74, vincent.yzerbyt@psp.ucl.ac.be,
http://www.upso.ucl.ac.be/members.html#VY
Olivier P. Corneille, Département de Psychologie, Place du Cardinal Mercier 10, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Tel: +32 (0)10 47 43 76; Fax: +32 (0)10 47 37 74,
olivier.corneille@psp.ucl.ac.be, http://www.upso.ucl.ac.be/members.html#OC
Users Committee
- Baudouin Germeau - Espace Environnement - Charleroi
- Dirk Steurs - Max Havelaar België - Brussel
- Jan Van den Bergh - I-Merge - Brussel
- Luc Vanoirbeek - Boerenbond - Leuven
Rendering sustainable consumption behaviour more sustainable: psychological tools for marketing prosocial commitment : final report
Warlop, Luk - Yzerbyt, Vincent - Corneille, Pierre ... et al Brussels : Belgian Science Policy, 2006 (SP1620)
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Duurzaam consumptiegedrag duurzamer maken: Psychologische instrumenten voor de marketing van pro-sociaal engagement : samenvatting
Brussel : Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid, 2007 (SP1777)
[To download]
Rendre durable les comportements de consommation durable: Outils psychologiques visant à promouvoir un engagement pro-social : résumé
Bruxelles : Politique scientifique fédérale, 2007 (SP1778)
[To download]
Rendering sustainable consumption behaviour more sustainable: psychological tools for marketing prosocial commitment : summary
Brussels : Federal Science Policy, 2007 (SP1779)
[To download]
