Goal Setting and Task-Based Incentives: A Field Experiment on Electricity Conservation
Presented by:
Yating Chuang
Institute of Economics
Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Wednesday, November 20, 2024
12:00 pm-1:15 pm
Taylor-Hibbard Seminar Room (Rm103)
This study examines the impact of goal-setting as a strategy for energy conservation through a field experiment involving 1,700 community participants. Among these, 300 have smart meters, while the remaining participants do not. Subjects will be randomly divided into three groups: Assigned Goal, Adopted Goal, and a control group. A rigorous balance check was conducted to confirm no significant differences in early June electricity usage, household size, house area, or key demographic information collected during the baseline survey among the three groups. In the intervention, participants in both the Assigned Goal and Adopted Goal groups are encouraged to achieve a 5% reduction in energy use compared to their respective comparison groups. The key distinction is that participants in the Assigned Goal group are directly instructed to meet this target, while those in the Adopted Goal group are first asked if they are willing to commit to this 5% reduction. The control group does not receive a specific goal but is given information about their bi-weekly electricity usage. The experiment is structured in two phases, one in July and another in September, to assess the short-term effects of the intervention. In the first phase, participants receive the goal without additional suggestions. In the second phase, they are provided with specific energy-saving tasks. Our preliminary results suggest that receiving specific tasks helps participants to reduce their energy consumption.