Nudging sustainable consumption: The use of descriptive norms to promote a minority behavior in a realistic online shopping environment

Our research examined effective ways of presenting true descriptive norm information about sustainable consumption in a realistic online shopping environment, even when the current norms for purchasing green products are low. In Experiment 1, participants presented with both “strong” and “weak” formulations of descriptive norms purchased more eco-labeled products and spent more money in comparison with a control condition. Using a different population, Experiment 2 confirmed these results for strong norms, but not for weak ones, and eliminated product salience and differential recall of norms as explanations for these effects. Overall, these findings suggest that even though current levels of green consumption may be relatively low, they can be truthfully described in ways that promote sustainable consumption in a shopping environment with real incentives. These methods can be easily adopted by supermarket chains and department stores.