CO2 Kompensation
Angewandtes Forschungsprojekt «Adressing the social norm conflict to enable more sustainable consumtion behavior: The case of voluntary carbon offsetting (VCO)»
The proposed project is an empirical two-phased study to enhance the persuasive power of social norm appeals (SNA) to strengthen voluntary carbon offsetting (VCO) as a bridging mechanism to help solve the climate crisis globally. This is necessary because complete decarbonisation is not possible short-term due to a complex set of political, socio-economical, and technological barriers. VCO can accelerate decarbonisation processes worldwide immediately and is particularly relevant to consumers. The study treats VCO as a desirable sustainable behaviour in different consumption contexts. VCO is well documented as a case of the attitude-behaviour gap (attitude for VCO is stronger than behaviour). Here VCO is approached as a social norm conflict (the majority approves of VCO, but a minority engages in this behaviour). Therefore, the theoretical foundation of the study is set in social norm approaches and persuasive communication science.
Project phase A consists of three sets of experimental parts. The central dependent variable will be the behavioural intention to VCO. In part I, variations of descriptive minority norms and injunctive majority norms will be analysed (N = 640) to determine optimised social norm appeals (OSNA). Based on the findings, the OSNAs will be used in the second experiment (part II) to develop a presentation mode to optimise the power of SNAs. Here, the use of exemplars, the refutation of known counterarguments, and the delivery mode (video vs text) of appeals will be tested to design optimised social norm messages (OSNM) for consumers (N = 400). Part III aims to address the challenge of generalisability for low and high-cost VCO settings and for low and high environmental concern in Switzerland (N = 240) and then repeated in Australia (N = 240). Project phase B is an implementation phase of the study in cooperation with myclimate, as a globally leading offsetting partner. Here, the effectiveness of the OSNMs will be tested in an actual situation with real consumers. Applying an aggregate pre-post design, session time, conversion rates and offset payments will be captured to test OSNM appeal nationally and internationally in low and high offsetting cost settings on myclimate’s website. A survey (N = 500) will also be conducted to measure the visitor ́s responses to OSNM.
Project results are expected to provide important contributions to the current understanding of social norm appeals in the context of sustainable consumer behaviour related to VCO. This study is innovative and promises to close several research gaps by investigating several norm types and optimising the persuasive power of messages and in different media channels. It will help shed light on a complex contemporary challenge to promote VCO by consumers and help different organisations apply new communication techniques in relevant media channels. Expected outcomes from the research could help make voluntary opt-in offsetting a new social norm. The expected findings have the potential for immediate transfer to policy makers and stakeholders, and so it provides a likely avenue for carbon-intensive sectors to accelerate more sustainable behaviour.
Institutionen
Universität Zürich
Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft und Medienforschung
Hochschule Luzern
Institute für Torismus und Mobilität
Team
Prof. Dr. Werner Wirth
Prof. Dr. Julianna Priskin
Dr. Friederike Vinzenz
Anna Schorn
Melanie Wyss
Drittmittel
Schweizer Nationalfonds (SNF)
Jahr
2020-2021
Funktion
Co-Leitung
conceptualization, budget plan, research proposal