Combatting climate change through message framing?

ǂa ǂreal behavior experiment on voluntary carbon offsetting

Aja Ropret Homar (Author), Ljubica Knežević Cvelbar (Author)

Abstract

Findings from behavioral economics suggest the currently low take-up of voluntary carbon offsets (VCOs) could be increased by changing the way choices are presented. In this article, we lean on prospect theory to test the effect of loss framing on air traveler's VCO behavior and whether this contrasts with attitudes and behavioral intentions. Borrowing from experimental economics, we conduct an incentive-compatible online experiment with a real-effort task. We find that under certain conditions a loss-framed VCO message leads to higher likelihood of offsetting, indicating some presence of loss aversion. The results also reveal a substantial attitude-behavior gap and intention-behavior gap, previously postulated to be particularly strong in the tourism setting but not yet quantified. Importantly, 28% of participants with a negative attitude toward VCOs chose to offset nonetheless, indicating positive attitudes are not a pre-requisite for behavior, as hitherto stipulated. Practical, theoretical, and methodological implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords

turizem;okolje;vedenje potrošnikov;trajnostni razvoj;tourism;environment;consumer behaviour;sustainable development;

Data

Language:	English
Year of publishing:	2024
Typology:	1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization:	UL EF - Faculty of Economics
UDC:	338.48
COBISS:	155243267
ISSN:	0047-2875
Views:	388
Downloads:	50
Average score:	0 (0 votes)
Metadata:

Other data

Secondary language:	Slovenian
Secondary keywords:	turizem;okolje;vedenje potrošnikov;trajnostni razvoj;
Type (COBISS):	Article
Pages:	str. 883-903
Volume:	ǂVol. ǂ63
Issue:	ǂiss. ǂ4
Chronology:	Apr. 2024
DOI:	10.1177/00472875231179400
ID:	19892469