A Room With a Viewpoint: Using Normative Appeals to Motivate Energy Conservation in a Hotel Setting

In addition to investigating the power of social norms to encourage pro-environmental behavior in a hotel setting, the current research also seeks to examine the extent to which a variety of consumer identities might differentially motivate adherence to the implicit social roles or explicit descriptive norms associated with such identities. Contrary to much previous research, but consistent with predictions, an appeal conveying the descriptive norm of that particular room’s previous occupants yielded higher compliance rates than the other three descriptive norm appeals, even though individuals consider this group to be comparatively much less meaningful to their personal identities than the other groups.

Citation:

Noah Goldstein, Robert Cialdini, and Vladas Griskevicius (2007) ,"A Room With a Viewpoint: Using Normative Appeals to Motivate Energy Conservation in a Hotel Setting", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 34, eds. Gavan Fitzsimons and Vicki Morwitz, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 47-48.