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Supplemental Material for The influence of social norms on expressing sympathy in social media by Valerie Graf-Drasch, Henner Gimpel, Lukas Bonenberger and Marlene Blaß in Journal of Information Technology

Electric vehicles (EVs) are an important cornerstone to achieve transport decarbonization. Still, simultaneous charging of EVs when home charging increases peak demand, especially during evenings. Smart charging allows optimal distribution of load, thus preventing peak loads. Nevertheless, this incorporates certain risks for the EV user, e.g., unavailability of EVs for unplanned events. This might lead to a lack of user acceptance. This paper focuses on specific incentives and nudges, motivating users to adopt smart charging. We conducted an integrative literature review, bringing together literature from different areas. Possible incentives and nudges are monetary incentives, feedback, gamification, or smart charging as a default-setting. We conducted three focus groups with 13 EV users in Luxembourg to get first insights into which of those incentives and nudges they prefer. Preliminary results indicate that incentives and nudges should be individualized. In the future, we would use these first insights to develop a large-scale survey.

Individual decision-making is a complex process. If carried out by individual citizens in the context of politically relevant decisions, serious consequences at all levels of a society might occur. That is why these decisions need to be made with care and preferably on a broad set of information to reflect citizens’ true preferences. However, due to limited attention, citizens often consider only salient aspects in their decision-making. To mitigate unwanted consequences following therefrom, citizens are in dire need of decision-support. We address this need by developing an Information Systems (IS) tool. Being based on information visualisation, our tool supports citizens by providing instant feedback. To ensure a meaningful engagement, the IS tool is designed according to gamification principles. A first instantiation in the context of renewable energy acceptance in Germany yields three key findings: First, we find indications that young, urban, and environmentally aware citizens are willing to accept a high percentage of renewable wind energy. Second, we find that the tool influences citizens’ decision-making. Third, we find citizens to update, however not completely turn over their preferred level of renewable wind energy after interaction with the tool. This holds true across different cross-sections of the population.

This doctoral thesis consists of six research papers presented in Chapters II, III, and IV and thereby contributes to scientific knowledge in Green IS and ICT4D research. The included six research papers address topics and questions on an individual, organizational, and societal level. As such, presented models and approaches investigate how to contribute to sustainability issues occurring on all three levels. As sustainability will continue to play an essential role in the upcoming years, this doctoral thesis hopefully provides valuable theoretical and practical insights.