Beyond doom and gloom: evidence from Azerbaijan for positive communication for water conservation

Provoking emotions in water conservation campaigns works better than information provision. However, scholars disagree on the pathways through which emotions impact behaviour, and on whether positive communication works better than negative one. Based on an experiment with undergraduate students in Azerbaijan (N = 214), we demonstrate how emotions may help stimulate desirable behaviour, and that positive emotions are more effective that negative ones. We offer policy recommendations to adjust the ongoing public conservation campaign ‘birdamcı’ (‘a water drop’ in Azerbaijani) to maximize its impact. Our findings are also relevant for water conservation beyond Azerbaijan.