Public discourse promotes socially responsible market behavior, finds study

Public discourse campaigns often promote social responsibility, but do such discussions also impact our market behavior? Economists at the University of Zurich have published a new study that shows that engaging in public discourse increases socially responsible market behavior—regardless of participants’ social norms and values.

Movements such as Fridays for Future and organizations such as the World Economic Forum support discussions on how consumers and firms can take action to mitigate climate change. Behavioral economists at the University of Zurich have now investigated whether and how such public discourse influences consumer behavior.

The study is published in the journal American Economic Review.

“We wanted to find out how to increase the market share of socially responsible products,” says study author Björn Bartling. “In our experiments, we were able to observe that engaging in public discourse prior to a purchase results in more socially responsible behavior, even if it incurs personal costs.”

Experiments reveal effects of communication

The researchers conducted three lab experiments, in which close to 2,500 participants in 187 fictitious markets took on the roles of buyers, sellers and third parties who weren’t part of trading but still affected by it. They traded goods that varied in their social impact.

In all experiments, sellers and buyers could choose between harmful products that cost less to produce but create external harm or responsible products with higher production costs but no external harm. Before making their decision, the participants were able to engage in discussion with each other.

In the experiments, the researchers observed a significant increase in trade with fair products when participants had engaged in different forms of discourse compared to the baseline condition in which there had been no discourse. The only situation that yielded no increase in socially responsible market behavior was when participants were able to avoid discourse altogether.

“Our findings illustrate how important active participation in public discourse is for initiating meaningful changes in market behavior,” says Bartling.

Different market, similar results

The experiments were carried out in Switzerland and China, where, according to previous studies, socially responsible market behavior is less pronounced. In China, too, previous engagement in public discourse resulted in a clear increase in market social responsibility. The market share of products traded fairly was at roughly the same level in China as in Switzerland.

Lab studies have their limitations when it comes to measuring the diverse impact of public discourse. Factors such as nationality and differences in income among market participants that may make it more difficult for discourse to yield sustainable agreements were not considered in the study, the authors emphasize.

“Nevertheless, our findings provide valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying socially responsible market behavior and show that public discourse has the potential to promote socially responsible behavior,” says Bartling.