Institut für Bildung, Arbeit und Gesellschaft

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hohpublica.uni-hohenheim.de/handle/123456789/28

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Prosocial propensity and water-saving behaviour: a study in Jordan and Germany / Propensión prosocial y comportamiento de ahorro de agua: un estudio en Jordania y Alemania
(2026) Neef, Nicolas E.; Zietlow, Kim; Otto, Siegmar; Neef, Nicolas E.; Department Sustainable Development and Change, University of Hohenheim; Zietlow, Kim; Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-University; Otto, Siegmar; Department Sustainable Development and Change, University of Hohenheim
This study investigates how a prosocial propensity, an inherent human attribute characterized by the willingness to incur personal costs for the benefit of others, functions as the foundation of water-conservation behaviour in Jordan and Germany — countries with starkly different water availability. We utilized survey data from university students and applied item response theory and linear regression. The prosocial propensity was indicated in line with previous studies via Honesty-Humility. However, against our expectations, the relationship between prosocial propensity and water-saving behaviour was not observed in Jordan ( N = 428), a nation facing severe water scarcity. In contrast, in Germany ( N = 540), where water is relatively abundant, our findings demonstrate a weak but clear relation between prosocial propensity and water-saving behaviour. The results suggest that a prosocial propensity manifests itself under some circumstances in water-saving behaviour but that this relation might depend on the local and cultural context. Thus, the study underscores the complexity of behaviours towards natural resources as they intersect with personality, cultural backgrounds and resource availability.
Public agreement with misinformation about wind farms
(2024) Winter, Kevin; Hornsey, Matthew J.; Pummerer, Lotte; Sassenberg, Kai
Misinformation campaigns target wind farms, but levels of agreement with this misinformation among the broader public are unclear. Across six nationally quota-based samples in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia (total N = 6008), over a quarter of respondents agree with half or more of contrarian claims about wind farms. Agreement with diverse claims is highly correlated, suggesting an underlying belief system directed at wind farm rejection. Consistent with this, agreement is best predicted (positively) by a conspiracist worldview (i.e., the general tendency to believe in conspiracy theories; explained variance Δ R² = 0.11–0.20) and (negatively) by a pro-ecological worldview (Δ R² = 0.04–0.13). Exploratory analyses show that agreement with contrarian claims is associated with lower support for pro-wind policies and greater intentions to protest against wind farms. We conclude that wind farm contrarianism is a mainstream phenomenon, rooted in people’s worldviews and that poses a challenge for communicators and institutions committed to accelerating the energy transition.
Spillover in sustainable consumer behavior: a matter of commitment
(2025) Henn, Laura; Kaiser, Florian G.; Adler, Maximilian; Elf, Patrick; Gatersleben, Birgitta; Henn, Laura; University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany; Kaiser, Florian G.; Otto‐von‐Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany; Adler, Maximilian; Otto‐von‐Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany; Elf, Patrick; Middlesex University, London, UK; Gatersleben, Birgitta; University of Surrey, Guildford, UK
Consumers express their commitment to environmental protection by engaging in a variety of environmentally protective behaviors. We thus suggest that strengthening consumers' commitment to environmental protection will cause behavioral spillover, which is the joint change in multiple environmentally protective behaviors. This idea differs from other spillover notions that draw on psychological processes that follow a change in a specific behavior. By reanalyzing data from a pre‐post treatment‐control quasi‐field experiment with customers of a retail company in which one group was exposed to a multiple‐component intervention over the course of 8 months, whereas the other was not, we corroborated a significant commitment gain in the experimental group ( n = 81) that did not occur in the control group ( n = 152). This commitment gain manifested in the expected spillover effect that mirrored the Rasch‐model‐implied likelihood gains in increasingly favorable behavioral expressions of people's commitment to environmental protection. This research complements existing models of behavioral spillover by providing theoretical and empirical arguments that strengthening consumers' commitment to environmental protection can result in spillover. In practical terms, focusing on people's commitment to environmental protection could thus be a promising avenue for directly promoting sustainable lifestyles.

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