Interested, indifferent or active information avoider of climate labels: Cognitive dissonance and ascription of responsibility as motivating factors

Research output: Working paperResearch

  • Anna Kristina Edenbrandt
  • Carl-Johan Lagerkvist
  • Leif Jonas Nordström
Active avoidance of information is gaining attention in behavioral sciences, and recently also its’ relevance from an economic theory perspective. We explore motivations and policy implications of active avoidance of carbon emission information. In a stated preference survey respondents were asked to indicate if they wished to access carbon emission information (info-takers) or not (info-decliners) when selecting protein source in a first stage. In a second stage all respondents were provided carbon emission information. The info-takers reduced their CO2-emissions from their food choices with 32%, while the info-decliners also reduced their CO2 emissions (12%). This provides evidence of active information avoidance among at least some info-decliners. We explore cognitive dissonance and responsibility feelings and personal norms as motivations for actively avoiding carbon emission information on meat products, and how these motivations affect the reaction if imposed information. Our results show that carbon emission information increases choice task uncertainty most among individuals that experience climate related cognitive dissonance and/or responsibility feelings. These findings point to the potential of carbon emission information as a measure for changing food consumption towards less carbon emitting products. The study also highlights the importance of how the information is provided and presented.
Original languageEnglish
PublisherAgriFood Economics Centre
Number of pages30
Publication statusPublished - 2020
SeriesAgriFood Economics Centre Working Paper
Number2020:1

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Social Sciences - Climate label, information avoidance, cognitive dissonance, carbon emission reduction, consumer behavior, strategic avoidance

Number of downloads are based on statistics from Google Scholar and www.ku.dk


No data available

ID: 237706254