Becci, Stella Lucia (2024) Beyond “Us and Them”, There “We” Are: The Importance of Shared Identity for Enhancing the Attractiveness of Community Energy Initiatives. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Community energy initiatives are on the rise in Europe as a type of collective action towards the sustainable energy transition. Yet only a margin of the European population is involved in these initiatives, thus making them a practice of the minority. Only by attracting more members, will these initiatives be able to make tangible impact. The present research aims to apply psychological theories of group processes, and particularly, social identity, to the understanding of how community energy initiatives can attract more members. Those who are less motivated towards the environment might disidentify with the initiative, especially when it displays a strong pro-environmental motivation. However, communal motives might also play a key role in involvement. A survey study was conducted on an Italian sample, presenting participants with a scenario framing an energy cooperative, and observing any effects on the identification with, evaluation of, and willingness to join the initiative. Specifically, the initiative was framed as either strongly, and solely motivated towards the environment, or motivated by mixed reasons, and to either benefit its members exclusively, or to share its benefits with the wider community. Results revealed that, contrary to expectations, a strong, sole pro-environmental motivation does not have a negative effect on the attractiveness of an initiative to new members, independently on their pre-existing pro-environmental identity. Moreover, in line with expectations, sharing benefits with the wider community, as opposed to exclusively benefitting its members, has a positive effect on the evaluation of the initiative, yet not on the willingness to join. This study provides preliminary evidence for the key role that sharing benefits with the wider community, as a means of increasing a sense of shared identity, might play in a community energy initiative’s ability to attract more members.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Goedkoop, F. and Jans, L. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Environmental Psychology (EP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Apr 2024 14:20 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Apr 2024 14:20 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3315 |
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