Fostering the Sustainable use of Common-Pool Resources through Behavioral Interventions: an Experimental Approach

Abstract

This study proposes the use of an experimental analogue of naturalresource exploitation to evaluate the effects of the real-timedisplaying of the amount of available resources and the provision ofwritten feedback messages on the resource extraction behavior ofparticipants sharing a common-pool whereby participants are physicallyand verbally isolated from each other. The experiment involved theapplication of a three-member common-pool resources (CPR) game. Themembers of the groups sharing the CPR were changed periodically and wereallowed to talk briefly to each other so that an experienced participantcould give instructions to a newcomer. In this way, it was also possibleto evaluate how the accuracy of instructions regarding resourcepreservation and sustainability affects group member resource extractionpatterns and CPR maintenance in the long run. Twenty-two collegestudents took part and were distributed into three groups: Control,Display, and Feedback. The amount of resources extracted individuallyand by the groups in every round of the game was analyzed, as were theverbal responses of the experienced participants when givinginstructions to newcomers. Results showed that the manipulated variableswere effective for the short-term decrease in the amount of resourcesextracted by the members of the Display and Feedback groups. Theaccuracy of the instructions was also important for the sustainedmaintenance of the pattern of consumption established by the manipulatedvariables, leading to the recovery and the preservation of the resourcesin a greater number of the game's rounds.