Nudging water conservation through information framing: evidence from a survey experiment among Chinese citizens

Abstract

In recent years, information framing received increasing attention from policymakers, scholars, and practitioners. It has been successfully applied to elicit citizens’ behavioural change for the common good. The current research aims to investigate how governments can nudge water conservation among the public through information framing. Using experimental data from a sample of 539 Chinese citizens, we found that the outcome framing (gains vs. losses) influences citizens’ intention on water conservation through risk perception, and this causal path varies depending on the manipulation of the distance framing (local vs. global). The implications, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.