Rich information on environmental issues and the poor reflections on consumers’ green actions: A behavioral economic approach

In this study, some obstacles in using information and communication technology (ICT) for public relation activities regarding environmental protection are reviewed. While there are many ways of dispersing information on environmental hazards, people may not be very responsive. In this study, we hypothesize that the obstacles to effective information dispersion can be attributed to factors such as limited memory retention, projection bias, and urgency of the problem, which are major concepts of behavioral economics. An empirical survey supports this hypothesis and emphasizes the need to overcome these obstacles in order to improve the efficiency of dispersing information on the environment.

► Environmental information does not transform consumers to taking green action.
► The three behavioral hypotheses were examined to explain the discrepancies.
► Understanding how people can be motivated to be environment-friendly.
► Limited memory retention and urgency of the problem could explain the discrepancies.
► Projection bias was supported partially.