Descriptive Norms, Personal Values, Organizational Pro-Environmental Support: Providing Intrinsic or Extrinsic Attributions to Increase Pro-Environmental Behaviors

In response to the climate crisis, organizations are encouraging employees to adopt pro-environmental behavior (PEB). While descriptive norm interventions (e.g., many people engaging in PEBs) are generally positive, mixed findings suggest an alternative approach may maximize effects. Using self-concordance theory, we hypothesize that the attribution of normative behavior (intrinsic/extrinsic) interacts with personal values to motivate behavior, especially for those with extrinsic values. In a time-lagged experiment with 1,712 participants, we tested descriptive norms with either intrinsic or extrinsic attributions, a norm-only condition, or no norm. Surprisingly, self-concordant attributions did not increase PEB, and extrinsic attributions led to a greater increase than intrinsic or norm-only conditions. Organizational pro-environmental support correlated independently with PEB but the moderation effect was non-significant. These counterintuitive findings suggest further exploration and implications for future research.