Cited by 193Environmental Education and SustainabilityTransportation Planning and OptimizationTransportation and Mobility Innovations

The Influence of Descriptive Social Norm Information on Sustainable Transportation Behavior: A Field Experiment

Kormos, Christine, Gifford, Robert, Brown, Erinn·2015·Environment and Behavior

Abstract

A month-long field experiment evaluated the impact of descriptive social norm information on self-reported reduction of private vehicle use. Following a baseline week, participants were asked to reduce their vehicle use by 25% and were randomly assigned to a control condition or to a low or high social norm condition in which they received information that either under- or over-reported others’ successful efforts to switch to sustainable transportation. Results indicated a significant linear trend, such that messages highlighting more prevalent descriptive social norms increased sustainable transportation behavior (relative to private vehicle use) for commuting, but not non-commuting, purposes. Participants in the high social norm condition decreased their commuting-related private vehicle use by approximately five times, compared with baseline. Car-use message campaigns can reduce private vehicle use by highlighting descriptive norms about others’ sustainable transportation efforts, but these messages appear to be most effective for commuting behavior.

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Crossref · 10.1177/0013916513520416

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  • This meta-analysis and individual experimental studies suggest that descriptive norms often exert a significant causal influence on behaviour.

    “This meta-analysis and several individual experimental studies that manipulated the scope of descriptive norms to track causal normbehaviour links (Kormos et al. [2015]; von Wagner et al. [2019]) suggest that descriptive norms do often exert a significant causal influence on behaviour.”

    From Science Communication and the Problematic Impact of Descriptive Norms (2023) · cites this paper as Kormos et al. [2015]

  • A wider descriptive norm produces a stronger impact on people's intention to act.

    “the broader the scope of the descriptive norm (for example, 50% versus 80%), the stronger the effect on intention to act(Kormos et al. [2015];von Wagner et al. [2019]).”

    From Science Communication and the Problematic Impact of Descriptive Norms (2023) · cites this paper as Kormos et al. [2015]

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Authors
Kormos, C., Gifford, R., & Brown, E.
Affiliations
University of Victoria (CA)
Venue
Environment and Behavior
Published
2014-02-04
Volume
47
Issue
5
Pages
479-501
ISSN
  • 0013-9165 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-390X
OpenAlex
W2012041761
Cited by
193
References
50
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 27 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 2
FWCI
17.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Environment and Behavior (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law › Environmental Education and Sustainability
  • Social Sciences › Transportation › Transportation Planning and Optimization
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Transportation and Mobility Innovations
Keywords
descriptive norms, sustainable transport, private car use, commuting behavior, normative information, behavior change, self-reported behavior

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