Psychology of environmentally and socially sustainable behavior ENS291 19th April 2016 Contact info: gunne.grankvist@hil.no or gunne.grankvist@hv.se For a critical discussion of the Fairtrade concept, and impact studies • Hainmueller, Jens and Hiscox, Michael J. and Sequeira, Sandra, Consumer Demand for the Fair Trade Label: Evidence from a Multi-Store Field Experiment (March 2014). Review of Economics and Statistics, Forthcoming; Formerly: MIT Political Science Department Research Paper No. 2011-9B. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1801942 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1801942 • See section: II. Fair Trade and Consumer Demand for Ethically Certified Products An important question • Does producers/farmers in the developing world actually benefit from participating in the fair trade system? • See e.g. http://www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/2009/ab out_us/2010_03_NRI_Full_Literature_Review.pdf for review of 24 Fairtrade impact studies • But more impact studies are needed! A poor job or no job at all? • In a developing countries, could a really bad/poor job still be a better opion than no job at all? • Consequences of Fairtrade or buycott of unethical alternatives? • Comments/discussion? Thoughts? Measure attitude towards ethical principles closely associated with the Fairtrade movement (example of used survey questions) • It is important to have solidarity with developing countries. • When I buy something from a developing country it is important to me that farmers and craftsman are not underpaid. • I would refrain from buying a product from a developing country if I knew that the people who produced the product have poor working conditions. • I would be willing to pay a premium price to support farmers and craftsmen in developing countries. • (1) “Do not agree at all” to (5) “Totally agree”. Schwartz value model Figure 1. The Schwartz´s (1992) value model And now - some results presented in • Grankvist, G. (2012). ”Consumer attitudes to ethically labelled products”. Research report. University West, Sweden (www.hv.se). Available at http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-5126 Willingness-to-pay • If a conventional banana cost one Euro. How much are you willing to pay for an eco – or Fairtrade labelled banana? • Such willingness-to-pay questions can be used as measures of attitudes towards…. Willingness-to-pay • If a conventional banana cost one Euro. How much are you willing to pay for an eco – or Fairtrade labelled banana? • Results from a study of EU citizens in 1997 • 37% were willing to pay 10% more • 11% ……….. 20% more • 5%..................30% more Willingness-to-pay • In a study in Belgium 2005 • How much more are you willing to pay for a cup of Fairtrade coffee? • On average, 10% extra Willingness-to-pay • In a study with Swedish university students in 2009 • How much more are you willing to pay for a cup of Fairtrade coffee? • On average, 20% extra • (and 40% didn´t know whether Fairtrade coffee was available on campus or not) • In Sweden (2005-2008) Fairtrade coffe was 38% more expensive Surveys vs ”reality” Environmentally vs socially sustainable behavior • Eco-labels vs Fairtrade-labels • Equally important to consumers? Or not? • Social, employee rights aspects, and in particular that no child labour has in some studies been found MORE IMPORTANT than eco-friendliness. • In other studies no differences have been found Habits Habits • ”Habits are learned sequences of acts that have become automatic responses to specific cues, and are functional in obtaining certain goals or end states” (p. 104) • Verplanken, B., & Aarts, H. (1999). Habit, attitude, and planned behaviour: is habit an empty construct or an interesting case of goal-directed automaticity?. European review of social psychology, 10(1), 101-134. Habits Habits – its usually a matter of seconds… Habits and shopping • Compare shopping (make purchases) in a supermarket where you usually shop and to shop in a supermarket that you do not know already • Which takes the longest time? Which requires the most energy? • Strong habits may explain the weak correlation between good intentions and ... Change habits? • How? • There are some methods that may help – sometimes Commitment • Tell others that the next time you will... • E.g. choose eco-labelled milk • Tell others about your plans creates commitment to... It is almost like make a promise to…. Implementation intentions • Mental plans for when, where and how to go from intention to actual behavior • ”If the situation X arises then I shall do Y” • ”If I am in the store where I usually do my shopping, then I shall choose Fairtrade label chocolate” Different strategies • How influence consumers to choose eco- or Fairtrade alternatives? • In this paper it is argued that different strategies are needed for different situations and different kinds of consumers. • There is no strategy that works always and for all consumers • Schultz, P. W. (2015). Strategies for Promoting Proenvironmental Behavior. European Psychologist, 19(2), 107- 117. Fairtrade certified universities • http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/en/get-involved/in-your- community/universities • “A Fairtrade University or College is one that has made a commitment to supporting and using Fairtrade” Friday (10.30-12.30) in the Aula • Values and Willingness-To-Pay for Fairtrade- or Eco Labelled Mobile Phones • …associations between importance attached to personal values and willingness-to-pay for mobile phones with an eco- or Fairtrade label. • Participants were students at University West in Sweden (n = 246), Lillehammer University College in Norway (n = 196) and Hochschule Darmstadt – University of Applied Sciences in Germany (n = 325). Friday (10.30-12.30) in the Aula • Values and Willingness-To-Pay for Fairtrade- or Eco Labelled Mobile Phones • …In Sweden and Norway participants were willing to pay, on average, 20 % extra for an eco- or Fairtrade labelled mobile phone. In the German sample the corresponding number was 12%. • …to strive for social status and prestige, as well as control and dominance over people and resources, was associated with … Essay tasks • In total about two A4 pages, that is about 1000 words • Deadline: 10 May 2016 • Send e-mail to gunne.grankvist@hil.no