The Influence of Descriptive Social Norm Information on Sustainable Transportation Behavior

From Digital Culture & Society

Contents 1 Article Reference 1.1 Find Article Online 2 Context 3 Overview 4 Strengths & Weaknesses 5 Assessment

[edit] Article Reference

Kormos, C., Gifford, R., & Brown, E. (2015). The Influence of Descriptive Social Norm Information on Sustainable Transportation Behavior: A Field Experiment. Environment and Behavior, 47(5), 479–501. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916513520416

[edit] Find Article Online

https://journals-sagepub-com.proxy.library.brocku.ca/doi/epdf/10.1177/0013916513520416 D.O.I: 10.1177/0013916513520416

[edit] Context

Public transportation, while effective and sustainable, is impacted by social norms many adopt through everyday interaction. This article particularly focuses on the impact of private transportation versus public transportation through an individual’s independent beliefs divided between injunctive and descriptive social norms. Alongside focusing on transportation impact, the article correlates commitment of pro-environmental movements from individuals to the desired output individuals seek from social settings. The purpose of the study is to determine whether an individual's current transportation means can be impacted depending on the social norm condition an individual may be in and age. A goal was set to analyze the effectiveness a specific social norm has on an individual's common practice, even if it has little to no impact on an environmental outcome. Understanding why many choose to take personal vehicles for their commutes rather than public transportation and vice versa is a difficult topic to explain, thus requiring the study of a large pool of individuals varying in age, social life, profession, income, knowledge and more. In summary of the outcomes that can be found in the “Strengths and Weakness” category, this article makes solid points on the beliefs of an individual vastly determining their stance on private versus public transportation, and how a high social norm environment can develop a boomerang effect for the thought process of an individual.

[edit] Overview

To better understand the importance of regulation and usage of public transportation, the article highlights that 27% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States is a result of the transportation sector operation as well as 65% of GHG emissions deriving from passenger transportation. Studies have shown that an individual's descriptive social normative ”have been shown to be positively correlated with their behaviors”(p.480). The big questions that were developed in the article regarding the correlation of social norms and transportation selection are (1) What influence does a specific social norm have on an individual's transportation habits?, (2) How effective can message campaigns be at changing the daily habits of an individual?, (3) Does the environment of an individual's studies/workplace impact transportation habits? The article collected data from seventy-eight participants from a mid-sized Canadian university. The requirements were that each participant was over the age of 18 and possessed a vehicle. Each participant was randomly assigned to a low or high social norm condition to view the impacts of their transportation preferences. The sample consisted of 50 females and 31 males. Students comprised 56.79 percent while 43.21 percent were faculty or staff members. Analysis showed that an increase of descriptive social norm from being absent to present saw a significant trend in the use of public transportation over private. Non-commuting behavior did see a trend of increase toward public transportation use however, was not significantly affected by social norm conditions, thus losing correlation with social norm affect with commuting transportation habits.

[edit] Strengths & Weaknesses

The overall strengths of the article was that it was able to collect data from an information rich pool of participants that possessed determining factors in their transportation habits. Topics such as certain level of education, current living location, age, and separation of commuting and non-commuting transportation were accounted for. Understanding whether participants resided in rural neighborhoods, suburban areas, or directly in the downtown core makes a significant impact on the choice of transportation as individuals that live away from the downtown core may have less of an option to select public transportation due to its lack of coverage in the area. These are key details that can significantly sway the results collected, leaving a positive toward the reliability of the information collected. The consistency of the study also contributed toward accurate data as each participant was subject to two social norm situations: low and high descriptive social norms, with identical information of both transportation methods being presented to each individual to ensure participants would show an impact on transportation in these conditions. Alongside the consistent participant experience, individuals were also emailed reminders to follow respective booklets on transportation habits, ensuring participants are engaged with the study. A negative to the article's information collection however is the lack of control for external influence, disregarding the social norms participants were subject to by the study. Many influences can cause individuals to choose a private vehicle for transportation rather than public, such as influences from friend groups that may either frown upon public transportation or typically are unable to use public transportation because of their habits when socializing (e.g. traveling outside of town for extracurricular activities and events). These external influences remained unknown per individual in the study, causing a lack in understanding amongst conditions participants were involved in.

[edit] Assessment

In conclusion, the article provided an effective study on how individuals can be encouraged to approach specific transportation methods. It contains a well controlled study with a well thought out method of engagement between each participant and accurately predicts its observations. Public transportation representatives in cities would benefit from this article as it proves the effectiveness of social norms and educational content has the decision making of an individual transportation habit. This data can be used best to increase campaigns for effective public transit use, ultimately benefiting a city in reducing its carbon footprint while also remaining accessible and effective.

Dm19wj 17:53, 1 December 2023 (EST)