Doing More with Less: Leveraging Social Norms and Status Concerns in Encouraging Conservation Farm Practices

Abstract

Engagement in conservation farm practices often lags behind what would be predicted by an analysis of economic returns. Through a number of novel experiments, we illustrate how identity-based utility can be harnessed to encourage pro-environmental behaviors. Results show that providing farmers with an opportunity to demonstrate their “green credentials” as well as the use of descriptive norms can encourage conservation practices. Interventions such as these represent a low-cost yet powerful supplement to traditional policy tools. New approaches for engendering behavioral change are likely to be particularly important in a U.K. context now that the United Kingdom has left the European Union.