Nudging People to Save Energy in Smart Homes With Social Norms and Self-Commitment

Kroll T, Paukstadt U, Kreidermann K, Mirbabaie M

Zusammenfassung

Despite energy efficiency measures the global demand for energy has risen in 2017 as a result of global economic growth and changes in consumer behaviour. To reduce the energy consumption and CO2 emissions, behavioural interventions have to be considered beyond technology advances. We address this by studying how the change of digital choice architectures with nudges can be used to influence the energy-saving behaviour of consumers in a smart home app. With a full factorial experiment, we test the efficacy of two nudges –‘self-commitment’ and ‘social norm’. With the herein reported pre-study, we evaluate the research design and identify improvements for the full study. This research-in-progress paper contributes by concretising the usage of digital nudges in the field of Green IS and behaviour change in the realm of energy-saving. Hence, it can serve as a starting point for discussions on its suitability and further studies focusing on different digital interventions that help to decrease energy consumption.

Schlüsselwörter
Digital Nudging, Green IS, Smart Home, Energy-saving, Sustainable HCI