Pledges counteract the boomerang effect in a sustainable showering intervention for children
Abstract Water scarcity has become a growing concern due to climate change. As fresh water is going to become increasingly scarce in the future, inculcating water-conserving habits among young children is very important. We conduct a randomized field experiment that focussed on instilling the behavi...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
|
| Series: | Communications Psychology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00294-7 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849331557220745216 |
|---|---|
| author | Jeeva Somasundaram Zhiyu Wang |
| author_facet | Jeeva Somasundaram Zhiyu Wang |
| author_sort | Jeeva Somasundaram |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Water scarcity has become a growing concern due to climate change. As fresh water is going to become increasingly scarce in the future, inculcating water-conserving habits among young children is very important. We conduct a randomized field experiment that focussed on instilling the behaviour of showering within 5 min among primary school children (N = 1121) in Singapore. Alongside an educational show emphasizing the importance of a 5 min shower, we introduced two commitment interventions—private and public (written) pledges—to nudge children to adhere to the 5 min shower time goal. Unexpectedly, the educational show and the 5 min shower time goal had an undesirable boomerang effect: children with a baseline shower time above 5 min reduced their shower time, while those below 5 min increased it, resulting in no net reduction. The private and public pledge-based commitments effectively countered the boomerang effect, reducing overall shower time and increasing adherence to the 5 min target. The commitment interventions achieved this by increasing the participants’ willingness to meet the target and by ensuring greater reductions for those more willing to reduce shower time. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5d797956db0341eaad203ee5c9f86e1f |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2731-9121 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-5d797956db0341eaad203ee5c9f86e1f2025-08-20T03:46:29ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Psychology2731-91212025-07-01311810.1038/s44271-025-00294-7Pledges counteract the boomerang effect in a sustainable showering intervention for childrenJeeva Somasundaram0Zhiyu Wang1IE Business School, IE UniversitySynapxeAbstract Water scarcity has become a growing concern due to climate change. As fresh water is going to become increasingly scarce in the future, inculcating water-conserving habits among young children is very important. We conduct a randomized field experiment that focussed on instilling the behaviour of showering within 5 min among primary school children (N = 1121) in Singapore. Alongside an educational show emphasizing the importance of a 5 min shower, we introduced two commitment interventions—private and public (written) pledges—to nudge children to adhere to the 5 min shower time goal. Unexpectedly, the educational show and the 5 min shower time goal had an undesirable boomerang effect: children with a baseline shower time above 5 min reduced their shower time, while those below 5 min increased it, resulting in no net reduction. The private and public pledge-based commitments effectively countered the boomerang effect, reducing overall shower time and increasing adherence to the 5 min target. The commitment interventions achieved this by increasing the participants’ willingness to meet the target and by ensuring greater reductions for those more willing to reduce shower time.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00294-7 |
| spellingShingle | Jeeva Somasundaram Zhiyu Wang Pledges counteract the boomerang effect in a sustainable showering intervention for children Communications Psychology |
| title | Pledges counteract the boomerang effect in a sustainable showering intervention for children |
| title_full | Pledges counteract the boomerang effect in a sustainable showering intervention for children |
| title_fullStr | Pledges counteract the boomerang effect in a sustainable showering intervention for children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pledges counteract the boomerang effect in a sustainable showering intervention for children |
| title_short | Pledges counteract the boomerang effect in a sustainable showering intervention for children |
| title_sort | pledges counteract the boomerang effect in a sustainable showering intervention for children |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00294-7 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jeevasomasundaram pledgescounteracttheboomerangeffectinasustainableshoweringinterventionforchildren AT zhiyuwang pledgescounteracttheboomerangeffectinasustainableshoweringinterventionforchildren |