Sustainable Behaviour through Nudging? : An Experimental Study on Nudging, Climate Change Denial and Political Orientation

Abstract: Can nudging promote sustainable consumption behaviour? This study investigates if nudging promotes more environmentally-friendly purchases when applying either a default option or adding a product to elicit the attraction effect in a consumption situation of electronic products. The study further investigates sustainable consumption behaviour by looking at political orientation and the degree of climate change denial. The results show that nudging can promote significantly more environmentally-friendly purchases. The attraction effect was found to have positive effects, but not the default option. A higher proportion of environmentally-friendly purchases was further carried out by participants having a lower denial towards climate change. Climate change denial was also correlated with political orientation; participants evaluating themselves as right-wing oriented showed higher climate change denial, and proceeded with less sustainable purchases. Despite identifying positive effects of nudging on sustainable consumption behaviour, data also indicate an interaction effect between nudging and the sequenced presentation order of condition. This can be interpreted as a carry-over effect moderating the effect of nudging when it is presented after a control condition. This moderating effect is discussed as a potential limitation of nudging as a tool to affect people’s behaviour.