Can Reminders Promote Regular Pro-Environmental Behavior? Experimental Evidence from Peru

Fuhrmann-Riebel, Hanna, D'Exelle, Ben, Lopez Vargas, Kristian, Tonke, Sebastian and Verschoor, Arjan (2026) Can Reminders Promote Regular Pro-Environmental Behavior? Experimental Evidence from Peru. World Development. ISSN 0305-750X (In Press)

	Microsoft Word (rba11-Dexelle_etal_Can_reminder) - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (2MB)
	Microsoft Word (rba04-Verschoor_etal_Can_remind) - Draft Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (1MB)

Abstract

Tackling environmental pollution requires a permanent change in regular, repeated behavior of households. Bringing about change in such behavior may require interventions that are not limited to a single point in time, yet little evidence exists on how frequently we need to target households to initiate behavioral change and to form new habits in regular pro-environmental behavior. To fill this gap, we investigate the impact of mobile text reminders on households’ recycling behavior in urban Peru, by randomly varying the frequency of reminders over a nine-week treatment period. We find that reminders increase both the likelihood that households start to recycle, and the frequency of recycling among households that already recycled before the intervention. The effects are stronger if reminders are repeated over a longer period. Our findings suggest that low-cost mobile text reminders can support repeated pro environmental behavior, and that some repetition may be needed to maximize their effectiveness.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	reminders,limited attention,habit formation,recycling,peru
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development)
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural Economics Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural and Experimental Development Economics Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Environment, Resources and Conflict Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Gender and Development Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Impact Evaluation University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	24 Feb 2026 14:30
Last Modified:	24 Feb 2026 14:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102041
DOI:	issn:0305-750X

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item