Changing culture through pro-environmental messaging on digital signs: A longitudinal field study

Effective public messaging is critical to creating a more sustainable and resilient culture. The explosion of social media has concurrently enhanced information access while often reinforcing pre-existing viewpoints and norms. Digital signage is more primitive, but is “in your face in your space” in a way that has the potential to affect a broader local audience. Environmental Dashboard (ED) is a communications platform and set of content applications that combines information on current environmental conditions, real-time resource consumption, positive actions being taken by community members, and a community calendar. Prior research demonstrates that exposure to individual ED applications in controlled settings increases positive social norms for and concern about environmental issues, emotional connection to resource consumption, systems thinking skills, and motivation to act. We conducted a longitudinal field study to assess whether ED content delivered via digital signs installed in public locations would advance psychological dimensions of sustainability and resilience within a community. Participants (N = 174) completed surveys in six designated signage locations prior to installation of signs and following two years of continuous exposure (N= 133). We observed: increases in pro-environmental social norms among people of color (a demographic emphasized); enhanced awareness of and sense of connection with the local community and ecology; increased awareness of electricity conservation; increased awareness of youth engagement (another demographic emphasized). These findings support the hypothesis that content on digital signs can be used to strengthen pro-environmental and pro-community norms and attitudes.

Methods
At Time 1, before screens were installed and Time 2, two years after screens were installed, participants (Total N = 307) were recruited from the locations in the community where digital signs were to be installed.  Procedures were identical at Time 1 and Time 2. Researchers stationed themselves in the same future (Time 1) or current (Time 2) screen installation locations. Participants took an online survey on laptops provided by the researchers. At the beginning of the survey, all participants certified that they were at least 18 years old and provided informed consent. 

In addition to basic demographic information, the survey measured attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors that we hypothesized would be influenced by the content of the digital signage. The full Time 1 and Time 2 surveys were identical except for two questions that measured frequency and length of exposure to screens. Measures included multiple questions that assessed the following: Salience of concepts presented on the screens, norm perceptions, positive community perceptions, awareness of youth engagement on environmental issues, water and electricity conservation, and awareness of local systems.

After confirmatory factor analysis, we combined individual questions into scales representing the constructs listed above (described in the csv file “MetadataforChangingCultureThroughPro-environmentalMessagingonDigitalSigns".