Group Commitment and Resource Conservation: Two Field Experiments on Promoting Recycling1

Two experiments evaluated the effect of commitment on paper recycling. Using an ABA design, Experiment 1 asked 24 individuals in a retirement home to sign a 4‐week group commitment pledge to recycle paper. During this intervention, the subjects recycled 47% more paper than they had during baseline. They continued to recycle at this level during a 4‐week follow‐up period, when the group commitment was removed. Experiment 2 evaluated the relative effectiveness of group commitment, individual commitment, and token reinforcers on paper recycling in a college dormitory. The students in all three experimental conditions recycled from three to five times more paper than those in the control group during the 4‐week intervention. However, in the 3‐week follow‐up period, when the treatments were removed, only the individually committed subjects continued to recycle significantly more paper than the controls.