One Save Per Day: How Mobile Technology Can Support Individuals to Adopt Pro-Environmental Behaviors

Abstract

The pressing issue of climate change requires humanity to reduce its ecological footprint drastically. While policymakers and companies must ensure the availability of green options, individuals are requested to contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions substantially. However, even when individuals recognize the need for pro-environmental behaviors, they often have difficulty meeting their expectations. Mobile technology for sustainability has the potential to support them in overcoming this issue by providing the decisive impetus for environmentally friendly behavior. Drawing upon the affordance perspective, we conducted a longitudinal qualitative study with users of a mobile app that encourages individuals to take daily sustainable actions. We present the affordance strands made possible by the app's features and how they lead to environmentally-friendly behaviors. We could observe behavior change with the app’s features. We also identify enablers and obstacles to affordance actualization. Our study contributes to Green IS research at the individual level and provides practical implications for mobile technology providers.