Recycling Rivalry: Utilizing Social Identity to Enhance Pro-Environmental Behavior in Public Settings

This study examines how social identity appeals can influence pro-environmental behavior (PEB) in public settings. An online experiment with UK Premier League supporters (N = 900) tested the effects of ingroup versus outgroup identity appeals on recycling intentions. Across all conditions, reported intentions were high (>88%), with no consistent advantage for ingroup appeals. To assess real behavior, we tested the same group identity-based recycling interventions in a football season-long field experiment at a Norwegian Premier Division stadium (N = 5,712), where visiting fans from 14 clubs were exposed to either an ingroup or an outgroup appeal. Results showed that ingroup appeals alone did not significantly increase recycling rates. However, when combined with a visible group-level social comparison framed as inter-club competition, recycling rates nearly tripled. Two follow-up experiments (N = 3,063) confirmed the key psychological mechanism: a motivation to contribute to the ingroup's success. These findings demonstrate that leveraging social identities can increase PEB in public settings, offering a novel theoretical link and practical strategies to encourage sustainable consumer behavior.