Social recognition, goal setting, and energy conservation: Evidence from a field experiment in student dormitories

Abstract

Non-monetary incentives are increasingly being studied in encouraging energy conservation. In light of this, we conducted a natural field experiment in student dormitories to assess the effect of social recognition and goal setting on electricity saving and the intrinsic motivation to save energy. Using a difference-in-difference model, we found that goal setting reduced the dormitories’ electricity consumption by 15.93% on average compared to the control group. However, social recognition was not effective on average. In addition, the study found that both social recognition and goal setting, on average, did not crowd out or crowd in the intrinsic motivation to save electricity in dormitories. The heterogeneity analysis showed that dormitory characteristics affect the crowding effect on the intrinsic motivation.