Beyond one size fits all? An experimental study of the effects of stage‐specific interventions to promote ecological online food shopping. Issue 5 (17th May 2022) - Berger, Verena
Abstract: Encouraging people to consume sustainably is more important than ever to tackle climate change. In the area of nutrition, we focused on understanding how social norm inspired treatments can effectively be applied to promote sustainable purchasing without restricting choice. Many intervention studies in this area have applied 'one size fits all'‐measures, ignoring the target group's context and psycho‐social preconditions. To examine the effectiveness of tailored interventions, we tested the impact on purchasing decisions of four treatments. The treatments were developed based on the four stages of behavioural change that conceptualise behavioural change as a transition through a sequence of stages: predecision, preaction, action, and postaction. In an online experiment ( N = 855), these treatments ( shopping assistant, success story, commitment, and feedback) were integrated into a true‐to‐the‐original online food shop and socio‐psychological constructs were collected using a downstream questionnaire. The results of a regression analysis showed that there are differences in the effectiveness of the treatments on participants' purchasing decisions. The feedback treatment turned out to be a particularly effective measure for encouraging large numbers of people at different stages of behavioural change to select greener products. In line with theory, the impact of several socio‐psychological variables designed to encourage more eco‐friendly purchases increased from stage to stage. The results may motivate online food shop providers to create customer experiences that promote eco‐friendly consumption. At the same time, it should also encourage other researchers working in this field to develop effective measures that support the achievement of sustainability goals.