IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v7y2015i8p10620-10648d53870.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using Web 2.0 and Social Media Technologies to Foster Proenvironmental Action

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew T. Ballew

    (Claremont Graduate University, 150 E 10th Street, Claremont, CA 91711, USA)

  • Allen M. Omoto

    (Claremont Graduate University, 150 E 10th Street, Claremont, CA 91711, USA)

  • Patricia L. Winter

    (US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, 4955 Canyon Crest Drive, Riverside, CA 92507, USA)

Abstract

Research from a variety of disciplines suggests that online technologies ( i.e ., Web 2.0 and social media) have considerable potential for spurring proenvironmental action; however, relatively little work examines how to effectively capitalize on these communication and organization tools. This review paper describes the Technologies for Proenvironmental Action Model (TPAM), a conceptual framework that explicates how different functions of Web 2.0 and social media ( i.e ., informational, relational, and experiential) can generate and/or facilitate personal, social, and contextual pathways to environmentally responsible behaviors. As derived from the TPAM, the likelihood of achieving practical goals of increasing proenvironmental behaviors is enhanced when technological functions are matched to the different pathways to proenvironmental action. For example, the relational function of technologies, as exemplified by Social Networking Sites (SNSs), should be particularly effective in communicating social norms supportive of environmentally responsible behaviors. The TPAM is intended as a guide to develop novel approaches, research questions, and methodologies in leveraging Web 2.0 and social media technologies to promote proenvironmental action. Results will contribute to basic theory development and work in applied settings (e.g., local environmental organizations) in order to effectively communicate and organize with different segments of the population to increase sustainable behaviors.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew T. Ballew & Allen M. Omoto & Patricia L. Winter, 2015. "Using Web 2.0 and Social Media Technologies to Foster Proenvironmental Action," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-29, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:8:p:10620-10648:d:53870
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/8/10620/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/8/10620/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:hrv:hksfac:5345878 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. J. W. Bolderdijk & L. Steg & E. S. Geller & P. K. Lehman & T. Postmes, 2013. "Comparing the effectiveness of monetary versus moral motives in environmental campaigning," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 3(4), pages 413-416, April.
    3. Kaplan, Andreas M. & Haenlein, Michael, 2010. "Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 59-68, January.
    4. Chris von Borgstede & Kristin Andersson, 2010. "Environmental Information—Explanatory Factors for Information Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(9), pages 1-14, September.
    5. Arshad Khan Khalafzai & Niru Nirupama, 2011. "Building Resilient Communities through Empowering Women with Information and Communication Technologies: A Pakistan Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-15, January.
    6. César Tapia-Fonllem & Victor Corral-Verdugo & Blanca Fraijo-Sing & Maria Fernanda Durón-Ramos, 2013. "Assessing Sustainable Behavior and its Correlates: A Measure of Pro-Ecological, Frugal, Altruistic and Equitable Actions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-13, February.
    7. Sebastian Krätzig & Bartlett Warren-Kretzschmar, 2014. "Using Interactive Web Tools in Environmental Planning to Improve Communication about Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-15, January.
    8. Caroline L. Noblet & Laura A. Lindenfeld & Mark W. Anderson, 2013. "Environmental Worldviews: A Point of Common Contact, or Barrier?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(11), pages 1-18, November.
    9. Noah J. Goldstein & Robert B. Cialdini & Vladas Griskevicius, 2008. "A Room with a Viewpoint: Using Social Norms to Motivate Environmental Conservation in Hotels," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(3), pages 472-482, March.
    10. Kang, Myunghwa & Gretzel, Ulrike, 2012. "Effects of podcast tours on tourist experiences in a national park," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 440-455.
    11. Amanda L. Kennedy, 2010. "Using Community-Based Social Marketing Techniques to Enhance Environmental Regulation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-23, April.
    12. Efrat Eilam & Tamar Trop, 2012. "Environmental Attitudes and Environmental Behavior—Which Is the Horse and Which Is the Cart?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(9), pages 1-37, September.
    13. Zehui Zhan & Patrick S.W. Fong & Hu Mei & Xuhua Chang & Ting Liang & Zicheng Ma, 2015. "Sustainability Education in Massive Open Online Courses: A Content Analysis Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-27, February.
    14. Thomas Wiedmann & John Barrett, 2010. "A Review of the Ecological Footprint Indicator—Perceptions and Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(6), pages 1-49, June.
    15. Maria Ojala, 2013. "Coping with Climate Change among Adolescents: Implications for Subjective Well-Being and Environmental Engagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(5), pages 1-19, May.
    16. Robert M. Bond & Christopher J. Fariss & Jason J. Jones & Adam D. I. Kramer & Cameron Marlow & Jaime E. Settle & James H. Fowler, 2012. "A 61-million-person experiment in social influence and political mobilization," Nature, Nature, vol. 489(7415), pages 295-298, September.
    17. Clark, William C. & Tomich, Thomas P. & Noordwijk, Meine van & Guston, David & Delia, Catacutan & Dickson, Nancy M. & McNie, Elizabeth, 2011. "Boundary Work for Sustainable Development: Natural Resource Management at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)," Scholarly Articles 9774653, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mauro Sciarelli & Mario Tani & Giovanni Landi & Lorenzo Turriziani, 2020. "CSR perception and financial performance: Evidences from Italian and UK asset management companies," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 841-851, March.
    2. Athapol Ruangkanjanases & Shu-Ling Hsu & Yenchun Jim Wu & Shih-Chih Chen & Jo-Yu Chang, 2020. "What Drives Continuance Intention towards Social Media? Social Influence and Identity Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-15, August.
    3. Katerina Zdravkova, 2023. "Personalized Education for Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-13, April.
    4. Marco A Janssen & Allen Lee & Hari Sundaram, 2016. "Stimulating Contributions to Public Goods through Information Feedback: Some Experimental Results," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, July.
    5. Aleksandra Kovacheva & Hillary J. D. Wiener & Ioannis Kareklas & Darrel Muehling, 2022. "Online Engagement with Memes and Comments about Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-19, July.
    6. Jihyeong Son & Changhyun Nam & Sonali Diddi, 2022. "Emotion or Information: What Makes Consumers Communicate about Sustainable Apparel Products on Social Media?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-13, March.
    7. Norhuda Salim & Mohd Nizam Ab Rahman & Dzuraidah Abd Wahab & Ariff Azly Muhamed, 2020. "Influence of Social Media Usage on the Green Product Innovation of Manufacturing Firms through Environmental Collaboration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.
    8. Giovanni Sogari & Tommaso Pucci & Barbara Aquilani & Lorenzo Zanni, 2017. "Millennial Generation and Environmental Sustainability: The Role of Social Media in the Consumer Purchasing Behavior for Wine," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, October.
    9. Mubariz Mammadli, 2022. "Environmentally Responsible Business Approaches in Azerbaijan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-25, May.
    10. Maria del García-de los Salmones & Angel Herrero & Patricia Martínez, 2021. "Determinants of Electronic Word-of-Mouth on Social Networking Sites About Negative News on CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(3), pages 583-597, July.
    11. Myoung-Jin Chae, 2021. "Driving Consumer Engagement through Diverse Calls to Action in Corporate Social Responsibility Messages on Social Media," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-22, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Denis Hilton & Nicolas Treich & Gaetan Lazzara & Philippe Tendil, 2018. "Designing effective nudges that satisfy ethical constraints: the case of environmentally responsible behaviour," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 17(1), pages 27-38, November.
    2. Komatsu, Hidenori & Nishio, Ken-ichiro, 2015. "An experimental study on motivational change for electricity conservation by normative messages," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 35-43.
    3. Laura Studen & Victor Tiberius, 2020. "Social Media, Quo Vadis? Prospective Development and Implications," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-22, August.
    4. Gliedt, Travis & Hoicka, Christina E., 2015. "Energy upgrades as financial or strategic investment? Energy Star property owners and managers improving building energy performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 430-443.
    5. Schubert, Christian, 2017. "Green nudges: Do they work? Are they ethical?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 329-342.
    6. Zehui, Zhao, 2023. "Pro-Environmental Behavior and Actions: Review of current theories and agenda for future research," SocArXiv p27hb, Center for Open Science.
    7. Carla Mingolla & Liselot Hudders & Veroline Cauberghe, 2020. "Framing Descriptive Norms as Self-Benefit Versus Environmental Benefit: Self-Construal’s Moderating Impact in Promoting Smart Energy Devices," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-23, January.
    8. Carla Rodriguez-Sanchez, 2023. "The role of social marketing in achieving the planet sustainable development goals (SDGs)," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 20(3), pages 559-571, September.
    9. Samadi, Mohammadreza & Nagi, Rakesh & Semenov, Alexander & Nikolaev, Alexander, 2018. "Seed activation scheduling for influence maximization in social networks," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 96-114.
    10. Viglia, Giampaolo & Dolnicar, Sara, 2020. "A review of experiments in tourism and hospitality," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    11. Vesely, Stepan & Klöckner, Christian A. & Carrus, Giuseppe & Chokrai, Parissa & Fritsche, Immo & Masson, Torsten & Panno, Angelo & Tiberio, Lorenza & Udall, Alina M., 2022. "Donations to renewable energy projects: The role of social norms and donor anonymity," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    12. Syndhia Mathé & Hélène Rey-Valette, 2015. "Local Knowledge of Pond Fish-Farming Ecosystem Services: Management Implications of Stakeholders’ Perceptions in Three Different Contexts (Brazil, France and Indonesia)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-23, June.
    13. Bowen Qin & Ge Song, 2022. "Internal Motivations, External Contexts, and Sustainable Consumption Behavior in China—Based on the TPB-ABC Integration Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-19, June.
    14. Champoux-Larsson, Marie-France & Knežević Cvelbar, Ljubica, 2021. "Pro-environment choices using a second language," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    15. Giovanni Sogari & Tommaso Pucci & Barbara Aquilani & Lorenzo Zanni, 2017. "Millennial Generation and Environmental Sustainability: The Role of Social Media in the Consumer Purchasing Behavior for Wine," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, October.
    16. David Jimenez-Gomez, 2021. "Social Pressure in Networks Induces Public Good Provision," Games, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, January.
    17. Zehui, Zhao, 2023. "Pro-Environmental Behavior and Actions: A Review of the Literature," OSF Preprints cajup, Center for Open Science.
    18. Fan, Rui & Xu, Ke & Zhao, Jichang, 2018. "An agent-based model for emotion contagion and competition in online social media," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 495(C), pages 245-259.
    19. Nour El Houda Ben Amor & Mohamed Nabil Mzoughi, 2023. "Do Millennials’ Motives for Using Snapchat Influence the Effectiveness of Snap Ads?," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, July.
    20. Schmidt, Christoph G. & Wuttke, David A. & Heese, H. Sebastian & Wagner, Stephan M., 2023. "Antecedents of public reactions to supply chain glitches," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:8:p:10620-10648:d:53870. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.