Attitudes toward water conservation
Evidence from a large sample of households in Germany
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15547210 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Manuel Frondel (0000-0003-4269-7937, RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, corresponding author), Delia Niehues (0009-0000-1378-8923, RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research), Valerie Peetz (RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research), Sabrina Sommer (0000-0002-0864-7795, RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research), Lukas Tomberg (0000-0002-8596-3193, RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 084056-084056 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-11 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environmental Research Letters (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1748-9326 • E-ISSN: 1748-9326 |
| Publisher | IOP Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1088/1748-9326/ade45e |
| OpenAlex | W4412191582 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 37 |
Based on randomized information treatments that were embedded in a large survey among more than 6000 single-family homeowners from Germany, we investigate the malleability of attitudes toward water conservation and a variety of conservation policies. The empirical results indicate that respondents generally have a positive attitude toward water conservation. Information treatments that included balanced or negatively biased information about the necessity of water conservation only moderately reduced this positive attitude. In addition, we find that respondents attribute a higher level of concern for water conservation to themselves than to people in their personal environment and the population in general. Conservation policies, such as price increases for heavy consumers, are accepted by the majority of respondents and perceived as fair, whereas smart water tariffs and frequent price increases are largely rejected
Geography · Sample (material · Water conservation · Water resources · Chemistry · Environmental Education and Sustainability · Environmental Science · Water resources management and optimization · Ecology
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |