A very interesting National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) Working Paper was published recently, titled USING NON-PECUNIARY STRATEGIES TO INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR: EVIDENCE FROM A LARGE SCALE FIELD EXPERIMENT, which investigated the effectiveness of policy measures based on information transfers and pro-social messages in a large-scale, natural field experiment carried out in conjunction with Cobb County, a water utility system in metropolitan Atlanta. The summary results were as follows:
“…The data, drawn from more than 100,000 households, indicate that social comparison messages had a greater influence on behavior than simple pro-social messages or technical information alone. Moreover, our data suggest social comparison messages are most effective among households identified as the least price sensitive: high-users. Yet the effectiveness of such messages wanes over time. Our results thus highlight important complementarities between pecuniary and non-pecuniary strategies.”
Further, the paper reiterated the following:
“…Moreover, our results suggest that strategies based upon appeals to pro-social preferences and social comparisons are most effective when targeting high consumption groups. Yet the effectiveness of such policies is short-lived and wanes over time. For practitioners, this suggests an important caveat on the use of conservation strategies based upon social comparisons or appeals to social norms – they are best reserved for situations where immediate, but short-lived, conservation efforts are desired.”
We have frequently discussed the fatigue effect of social comparative messaging and are glad that someone is finally taking time to look into such. We don’t eschew such messaging; as the report notes it has its short-term impact but – over the long term – we believe that only a transactive grid will truly motivate long-lasting and impactful behavioral change among end users.
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