Communicating Trends in Sustainability Transitions: Minority Beliefs and Dynamic Norms about Plant-Based Food Consumption

• Author(s): Malta, Irene ; Hoeks, John ; Graça, João
• Date: 2024
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/61539
• Origin: Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa
• Subject(s): Dynamic norms; second-order beliefs; plant-based food; minority influence
• Document Type: Journal article
• Language: English
• Contributor(s): Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto da ULisboa

Description

An emerging line of research has been exploring how changes in social norms can lay the ground for shifts toward sustainability. This pre-registered study investigated the influence of communicating static and dynamic norms (2 Static x 2 Dynamic, between-subjects design) on respondents’ beliefs, intentions, information-seeking behavior, and policy support regarding plant-based food. Here, static norms referred to a minority of consumers who believed that plant-based food has a crucial role in sustainability transitions. Dynamic norms referred to how the number of people endorsing this belief had been increasing. The findings (N = 492) revealed that communicating the dynamic aspect of the minority belief increased participants’ endorsement of that same belief. Moreover, exposure to dynamic norms (alone or with static norms) had a small positive effect on policy support. These findings add to the growing body of knowledge on dynamic-norm communication.