L'effet de licence comme ressort de l'effet rebond : revue de littérature et pistes de réflexion

The rebound effect describes a situation where an energy efficiency improvement of a service results in lower energy savings than the anticipated theoretical savings. The reason for this is that individuals tend to use the energy service more once it becomes more efficient. On one hand, this is because the use of the service is now cheaper (price effect), and on the other hand, because by investing in this more efficient service, they feel they have done a good deed, which subsequently alleviates guilt and encourages increased usage of the service (moral licensing effect). However, the moral licensing effect is far less integrated into the literature on the rebound effect compared to the price effect. This is primarily because it is a relatively recent effect documented mostly in psychology and generally in a context distant from that of the rebound effect. The objective of this literature review is therefore to highlight the fact that the moral licensing effect can also be a source of the rebound effect. To address this objective, we draw on the literature that has analyzed the moral licensing effect on pro-environmental behaviors, and we present the few studies that have started incorporating this effect into research on the rebound effect. We conclude by listing some avenues for further exploration that we believe are important for strengthening the understanding of the moral licensing effect as a cause of the rebound effect.