Does the nudge effect persist? Evidence from a field experiment using social comparison message in China.

We designed and carried out a field experiment in which we imposed social comparison incentives and technical recommendations on student dormitories through electricity consumption reports and energy‐saving suggestions materials, respectively. Our findings are as follows: (1) Regression results on all users show that the effect of social norms is not statistically significant. (2) A social comparison message has a heterogeneous effect on consumers' energy use. Low‐ and high‐energy users reduced their electricity consumption by 26% and 14%, respectively, in the first week after the treatment. (3) The effect of social norms is time sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]