The DOI matches its Crossref record; 14 of the 14 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Commitment and Behavior Change: Evidence from the Field
Abstract
Influencing behavior change is an ongoing challenge in psychology, economics, and consumer behavior research. Building on previous work on commitment, self-signaling, and the principle of consistency, a large, intensive field experiment (N = 2,416) examined the effect of hotel guests' commitment to practice environmentally friendly behavior during their stay. Notably, commitment was symbolic—guests were unaware of the experiment and of the fact that their behavior would be monitored, which allowed them to exist in anonymity and behave as they wish. When guests made a brief but specific commitment at check-in, and received a lapel pin to symbolize their commitment, they were over 25% more likely to hang at least one towel for reuse, and this increased the total number of towels hung by over 40%. This research highlights how a small, carefully planned intervention can have a significant impact on behavior. Theoretical and practical implications for motivating desired behavior are discussed.
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Citations
Cites
Attitude-behavior relations: A theoretical analysis and review of empirical research
Ajzen, I., & Fishbein, M. (1977) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.84.5.888 · Cited by 7,611 · cited 1×
“Attitude change does not always equate to behavior change (Ajzen and Fishbein 1977), however, and even the most knowledgeable and environmentally conscious individuals may sometimes fail to recycle and are no more likely to conserve energy (Bickman 1972; Costanzo et al. 1986; De Young 1988; Geller…”
BackgroundSimmons, J. P., Nelson, L. D., & Simonsohn, U. (2011) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797611417632 · Cited by 6,567
Self-citationSocial Influence: Compliance and Conformity
Cialdini, R. B., & Goldstein, N. J. (2004) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.142015 · Cited by 6,077
Bem, D. J. (1972) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60024-6 · Cited by 5,241
A Room with a Viewpoint: Using Social Norms to Motivate Environmental Conservation in Hotels
Goldstein, N. J., Cialdini, R. B., & Griskevicius, V. (2008) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/586910 · Cited by 3,409
Targeting consumers who are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products
Laroche, M., Bergeron, J., & Barbaro‐Forleo, G. (2001) · Journal of Consumer Marketing · doi:10.1108/eum0000000006155 · Cited by 2,974
What Do Laboratory Experiments Measuring Social Preferences Reveal About the Real World?
Levitt, S. D., & List, J. A. (2007) · Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/jep.21.2.153 · Cited by 2,668
Going green to be seen: status, reputation, and conspicuous conservation
Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., & Van den Bergh, B. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0017346 · Cited by 2,174
The totalitarian ego: Fabrication and revision of personal history.
Greenwald, A. G. (1980) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.35.7.603 · Cited by 1,942
Compliance without pressure: The foot-in-the-door technique.
Freedman, J. L., & Fraser, S. C. (1966) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0023552 · Cited by 1,637 · cited 2×
“Building on previous work on commitment, self-signaling, and the principle of consistency, a large, intensive field experiment (N p 2,416) examined the effect of hotel guests’ commitment to practice environmentally friendly behavior during their stay.”
Background
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Griffin, Patricia (2001), “‘Green’ Hotels Association Says, Hotels Can Save over $6.50 a Day per Occupied Guestroom and Help Protect Our Environment,” press release, “Green” Hotels Association, Houston, http://www.greenhotels.com/pressrel.php#a2.
- Travelzoo (2010), “Travelzoo Publishes Eco-Certified Hotel Deals for Earth Day's 40th Anniversary,” press release, Travelzoo, http://ir.travelzoo.com/releases.cfm?Year=2010&ReleasesType=.
Cited by
How to SHIFT Consumer Behaviors to be More Sustainable: A Literature Review and Guiding Framework
White, K., Habib, R., & Hardisty, D. J. (2019) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1177/0022242919825649 · Cited by 2,386
A review of experiments in tourism and hospitality
(2020) · doi:10.1016/j.annals.2020.102858 · Cited by 455
Nudging pro‐environmental behavior: evidence and opportunities
Byerly, H., Balmford, A., Ferraro, P. J., Hammond Wagner, C., Palchak, E., Polasky, S., Ricketts, T. H., Schwartz, A. J., & Fisher, B. (2018) · Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment · doi:10.1002/fee.1777 · Cited by 361
Szaszi, B., Palinkas, A., Palfi, B., Szollosi, A., & Aczel, B. (2018) · Journal of Behavioral Decision Making · doi:10.1002/bdm.2035 · Cited by 322
Call for testing interventions to prevent consumer food waste
Stöckli, S., Niklaus, E., & Dorn, M. (2018) · Resources, Conservation and Recycling · doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2018.03.029 · Cited by 230
Metadata
- Authors
- Baca-Motes, K., Brown, A., Gneezy, A., Keenan, E. A., & Nelson, L. D.
- Venue
- Journal of Consumer Research
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2012-07-03
- Volume
- 39
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1070-1084
- ISSN
- 0093-5301 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-5277
- OpenAlex
- W1990001462
- Cited by
- 340
- References
- 14
- FWCI
- 31.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Baca-Motes, K., Brown, A., Gneezy, A., Keenan, E. A., & Nelson, L. D. (2013). Commitment and Behavior Change: Evidence from the Field. Journal of Consumer Research. https://doi.org/10.1086/667226
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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