Table 1.
Overview of former research—social norms.
| Source | Main methodology used | Main target behavior(s) | Effect of social norm confirmed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andor et al. (2020a) | Meta-analysis of field experimental studies | Energy conservation | Small decrease in energy consumption |
| Buckley (2020) | Meta-analysis of field experimental studies | Energy conservation | No effect (meta-regression results, full model specification) |
| Delmas et al. (2013) | Meta-analysis of field experimental studies | Energy conservation | No effect (meta-regression results, full model specification) |
| Jachimowicz et al. (2018) | Meta-analysis of field experimental studies | Energy conservation | Small decrease in energy consumption (results for Opower trials) |
| Andor et al. (2020b) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Small, marginally significant decrease in energy consumption (the estimate reaches conventional levels of statistical significance in models with outliers removed) |
| Bator et al. (2019) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Small short-term and moderate long-term decrease in energy consumption (results for the “feedback” treatment in Study 2) |
| Beltramo et al. (2015) | Field experiment | Adoption of fuel-efficient cook stoves | No effect |
| Bogard et al. (2020) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Moderate decrease to small increase (sic!) in energy consumption (depending on treatment) |
| Bollinger et al. (2020) | Field experiment | Adoption of residential solar panels | Large increase in installations relative to control (result for the “pro-social” treatment; longer-term post-campaign effects not considered here) |
| Bonan et al. (2019) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | No effect |
| Bonan et al. (2021) | Field experiment | Adoption of fuel-efficient cook stoves | No effect |
| Bonan et al. (2020) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | No effect to small decrease in energy consumption (depending on program duration) |
| Brandon et al. (2017) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Small decrease in energy consumption |
| Brandon et al. (2019) | Field experiment | Energy conservation during peak-load events | Small to moderate decrease in energy consumption (depending on treatment) |
| Brülisauer et al. (2020) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Large decrease in energy consumption |
| Byrne et al. (2018) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | No effect |
| Caballero and DellaValle (2021) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Mixed results depending on model specification (no effect in the model without controls; moderate decrease in consumption in the model with psycho-social controls; large increase in consumption in the model with household and demographic controls) |
| Charlier et al. (2021) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | No effect |
| Crago et al. (2020) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | No effect |
| Henry et al. (2019) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Small decrease in energy consumption |
| Holladay et al. (2019) | Field experiment | Takeup of home energy audits | No effect (result for social comparisons in terms of CO2 emissions) Large increase in audit takeup (results for social comparisons in terms of energy consumption and in terms of energy consumption expenditures) |
| Investment in home energy efficiency improvements | No effect | ||
| Kácha and Ruggeri (2019) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | No effect |
| Kandul et al. (2020) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Small decrease in temperature setting |
| Komatsu and Nishio (2015) | Field experiment | Motivation to conserve energy | No effect to small increase in motivation compared to control (depending on the type of normative message used) |
| Leoniak and Cwalina (2019) | Field experiment | Switching off unused lights | Large increase in light switching (main effect of the injunctive norm sign compared to request only in Studies 1 and 2) No effect (main effect of the descriptive norm sign compared to request only in Studies 1 and 2) |
| List et al. (2017) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Small decrease in energy consumption |
| Liu et al. (2016) | Field experiment | Signing a petition to adjust a public building's thermostat to save energy | Moderate increase in likelihood of signing the petition |
| Mi et al. (2020a) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | No effect (result for the “normative information” condition) |
| Mi et al. (2020b) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Large decrease in energy consumption (result for groups with comparative feedback) |
| Murakami et al. (2022) | Field experiment | Energy conservation during peak-demand hours | No effect |
| Myers and Souza (2020) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | No effect |
| Ojima et al. (2019) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | No effect (compared to a feedback only condition) |
| Pellerano et al. (2017) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Small decrease in energy consumption |
| Wong-Parodi et al. (2019) | Field experiment | Energy conservation | Large decrease in energy consumption |