Overcoming Salience Bias: How Real-Time Feedback Fosters Resource Conservation
Journal
Management Science
ISSN
0025-1909
ISSN-Digital
1526-5501
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2018-03
Author(s)
Tiefenbeck, Verena
;
Goette, Lorenz
;
Degen, Kathrin
;
Tasic, Vojkan
;
;
Lalive, Rafael
;
Staake, Thorsten
Abstract
Inattention and imperfect information bias behavior toward the salient and immediately visible. This distortion creates costs for individuals, the organizations in which they work, and society at large. We show that an effective way to overcome this bias is by making the implications of one's behavior salient in real time, while individuals can directly adapt. In a large-scale field experiment, we gave participants real-time feedback on the resource consumption of a daily, energy-intensive activity (showering). We find that real-time feedback reduced resource consumption for the target behavior by 22%. At the household level, this led to much larger conservation gains in absolute terms than conventional policy interventions that provide aggregate feedback on resource use. High baseline users displayed a larger conservation effect, in line with the notion that real-time feedback helps eliminate " slack " in resource use. The approach is cost effective, is technically applicable to the vast majority of households, and generated savings of 1.2 kWh per day and household, which exceeds the average energy use for lighting. The intervention also shows how digitalization in our everyday lives makes information available that can help individuals overcome salience bias and act more in line with their preferences.
Language
English
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
INFORMS
Publisher place
Hanover, Md.
Volume
64
Number
3
Start page
983
End page
1476
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
250081