About this Research Topic
Our actions and choices in one situation today can affect how we behave in another situation tomorrow. There is growing interest in the existence and relevance of such “behavioral spillovers” by academics and policy makers alike, as significant spillovers from one behavioral domain to another domain can have profound impacts on the evaluation of policies and interventions aimed at encouraging behavioral change.
This is particularly relevant for environmental behavior. Due to the urgency and potentially disastrous consequences of climate change and resource scarcity, a vast number of studies in the recent decade has investigated the potential of demand-sided policy interventions aimed at fostering resource conservation and other pro-environmental actions by households and individuals, for example through the use of social norms, feedback, goals, defaults, and similar instruments. Most studies target behavior in one specific domain (such as energy and water conservation, recycling, food choice) and analyze effects on the targeted domain in isolation. However, it is less well understood how the net effects of such interventions change when taking into account potential spillover effects to behaviors that are not directly targeted.
Empirical evidence on spillover effects in environmental behavior – particularly evidence from the field – is scarce but growing. On the one hand, recent studies that document positive spillovers (i.e., increased environmental behavior in non-targeted domains) are encouraging for the promise of demand-side interventions. On the other hand, negative spillovers could greatly reduce or even reverse the effectiveness of such interventions. For example, there is growing concern that focusing on voluntary shifts in individual behaviour can crowd out public support for necessary systemic changes and macro-level policies such as carbon pricing.
To understand when and under which conditions behavioral spillovers arise, how positive spillovers can be fostered and negative spillovers avoided, it is essential to dig deeper into the behavioral mechanisms at play. While traditional economic analysis highlights the role of complementarity/substitutability and income effects, research in psychology and economics suggests that spillovers can also be driven by more nuanced cognitive and affective mechanisms.
First, initial behavioral changes in one domain can causally increase or decrease the motivation to act similarly in subsequent decisions through moral licensing, preferences for consistency, or identity/image concerns. Second, behavior in one domain can lead to spillovers in attention, learning, and habits. These mechanisms are likely to interact with each other, and different types of interventions are likely to activate different mechanisms.
This Research Topic welcomes theoretical and empirical contributions that shed light on the relevance and direction of behavioural spillovers under different conditions, as well as on the underlying behavioral channels.
This is particularly relevant for environmental behavior. Due to the urgency and potentially disastrous consequences of climate change and resource scarcity, a vast number of studies in the recent decade has investigated the potential of demand-sided policy interventions aimed at fostering resource conservation and other pro-environmental actions by households and individuals, for example through the use of social norms, feedback, goals, defaults, and similar instruments. Most studies target behavior in one specific domain (such as energy and water conservation, recycling, food choice) and analyze effects on the targeted domain in isolation. However, it is less well understood how the net effects of such interventions change when taking into account potential spillover effects to behaviors that are not directly targeted.
Empirical evidence on spillover effects in environmental behavior – particularly evidence from the field – is scarce but growing. On the one hand, recent studies that document positive spillovers (i.e., increased environmental behavior in non-targeted domains) are encouraging for the promise of demand-side interventions. On the other hand, negative spillovers could greatly reduce or even reverse the effectiveness of such interventions. For example, there is growing concern that focusing on voluntary shifts in individual behaviour can crowd out public support for necessary systemic changes and macro-level policies such as carbon pricing.
To understand when and under which conditions behavioral spillovers arise, how positive spillovers can be fostered and negative spillovers avoided, it is essential to dig deeper into the behavioral mechanisms at play. While traditional economic analysis highlights the role of complementarity/substitutability and income effects, research in psychology and economics suggests that spillovers can also be driven by more nuanced cognitive and affective mechanisms.
First, initial behavioral changes in one domain can causally increase or decrease the motivation to act similarly in subsequent decisions through moral licensing, preferences for consistency, or identity/image concerns. Second, behavior in one domain can lead to spillovers in attention, learning, and habits. These mechanisms are likely to interact with each other, and different types of interventions are likely to activate different mechanisms.
This Research Topic welcomes theoretical and empirical contributions that shed light on the relevance and direction of behavioural spillovers under different conditions, as well as on the underlying behavioral channels.
Keywords: spillover effects, behavioral change, pro-environmental behavior, spillover
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
