Abstract
Around the world there is strong interest in the use of energy feedback via smart metering technology as an option for businesses to reduce their energy use and mitigate greenhouse gases (GHGs). In order to bring about such energy reductions in this way, the feedback provided needs to motivate changes in energy behaviours and practices within organisations. The chapter explores the impact of a real-life smart metering intervention and its impact on the emergence and diffusion of energy-related social norms and the link between these and energy use. The chapter begins by looking at early organisation and energy conservation studies (mainly feedback-based), before moving on to organisational and social norms studies, and concluding with those most relevant to the current chapter. We first briefly define what we mean by social norms. Cialdini et al. (1991) argue that social norms can be defined as either injunctive (characterised by perception of what most people approve or disapprove of) or descriptive (characterised by what most people do). According to this argument, injunctive norms incentivise action by promising social rewards and punishments (informal sanctions) for it (and therefore enjoin behaviour). According to Cialdini et al. (1991) these constitute the moral rules of a group. Descriptive norms on the other hand, inform behaviour, and incentivise action, by providing evidence of what are likely to be effective and adaptive steps to take based on what others do (Cialdini et al. 1991). The ‘focus theory’ of Cialdini et al. (1991) stipulates that this differentiation of social norms is critical to a full understanding of their influence on human behaviour.