Spillover between pro-environmental behaviours: The role of resources and perceived similarity

- We investigate the micro-processes of pro-environmental behavioural spillover.
- We examine the role of behavioural similarity and environmental goals on positive and negative spillover in three experiments.
- Positive spillover occurs between behaviours that require similar resources.
- Environmental goals do not seem to interact with the spillover process.
- No evidence was found to suggest negative spillover occurs.

Pro-environmental behavioural spillover - when performing one pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) increases the likelihood of performing another - has been identified as a possible way to increase the amount of environmentally friendly behaviours that individuals perform. The current research investigated this spillover process, the role of chronic environmental motivations, goal priming and behavioural similarity. Three studies (two conducted with students and one conducted with the general Australian public) provided evidence to suggest that positive spillover occurs between PEBs that are similar in terms of the resources required to perform them, but not between PEBs that are resource-dissimilar. There was no evidence to suggest that negative spillover (the instance where performing one PEB lessens the likelihood of subsequently performing another) occurred. Chronic environmental striving seems to independently influence the performance of PEBs, especially spending time to be more environmentally friendly. The role of priming goals in the spillover process remains unclear.