Leiden University Student Repository

Munck, Joris de (2020)

The Influence of Social, Personal Norms and Social Identification on the Perception about Disconnection from the Gas Grid

Master thesis | Psychology (MSc)

The municipality of Leiden wants to disconnect several neighborhoods from the gas grid by 2030. In order to run this process as smooth as possible, they wanted to know which are factors that enhances this process. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the social and personal norms about disconnecting from the gas grid on the perception about disconnecting from the gas grid, and if these relationships are moderated by social identification. An online survey was distributed (N = 240) among inhabitants within the municipality of Leiden. As predicted, the social and personal norms are important predictors in changing someone’s perception about disconnecting from the gas grid. When there is a social norm where it is normal to disconnect from the gas grid, people are more likely to change their personal norms and perception about disconnection from the gas grid according to this social norm. However, contradicting our predictions, identifying with the neighbors...Show moreThe municipality of Leiden wants to disconnect several neighborhoods from the gas grid by 2030. In order to run this process as smooth as possible, they wanted to know which are factors that enhances this process. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the social and personal norms about disconnecting from the gas grid on the perception about disconnecting from the gas grid, and if these relationships are moderated by social identification. An online survey was distributed (N = 240) among inhabitants within the municipality of Leiden. As predicted, the social and personal norms are important predictors in changing someone’s perception about disconnecting from the gas grid. When there is a social norm where it is normal to disconnect from the gas grid, people are more likely to change their personal norms and perception about disconnection from the gas grid according to this social norm. However, contradicting our predictions, identifying with the neighbors or with people that are important to you did not moderate these relations. These findings confirm that social and personal norms foster the perception about disconnecting from the gas grid. Moreover, the municipality can use these findings as a direction in further research or with developing interventions.Show less

social norms

personal norms

social identification

disconnecting from the gas grid

sustainability

Author

Munck, Joris de

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Economic and Consumer Psychology

Supervisors

Wal, A. van der

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en