How to foster consumer climate (change) engagement: A System 1 and System 2 thinking perspective
(R2024-122640)

AUTHORS

Khan Taufique, Oxford Brookes University

ABSTRACT

Climate change dominates daily headlines, underscoring its current and future impacts as awareness and concern steadily increase. While the media often emphasizes the role of human behavior in causing climate change, it’s equally crucial to recognize its significance in responding to and mitigating its effects through actionable behavior change. Yet, a significant disparity between intention and action persists in pro-environmental consumer behaviors, posing a challenge to the efficacy of behavior change initiatives. This conceptual paper introduces a novel framework that addresses cognitive barriers and behavioral biases to engage consumers in meaningful climate actions. It proposes practical interventions designed to stimulate behavior change by tapping into System 1 thinking, which has been shown to have a stronger influence on actual behavior compared to relying solely on System 2 thinking, which tends to align more with behavioral intentions rather than tangible actions.