Saving electricity – For the money or the environment? Risks of limiting pro-environmental spillover when using monetary framing

This field experiment highlights negative side-effects of monetary framing in the context of pro-environmental behaviour. Clients of a German energy provider (N = 653) received electricity saving tips, combined with either monetary framing (savings in Euro) or environmental framing (savings in CO2) versus no information in the control group. Short-term behavioural effects were analysed. The environmental and monetary framing group both showed higher intentions for saving electricity. However, positive spillover on climate-friendly intentions, beyond the realm of saving electricity, was found in the environmental framing condition only. For monetary framing no effect was found. Furthermore, the spillover effect was found to be completely mediated by personal norms and self-efficacy, thus uncovering new mediating variables for pro-environmental spillover. Overall, these findings challenge marketing approaches that often promote changes in pro-environmental behaviour by appealing to self-interest. The present study suggests that this strategy can discourage positive spillover on further pro-environmental behaviour.