THE TEN-CENT EFFECT ON PLASTIC BAG CONSUMPTION AND STORE'S IMAGE: A FIELD EXPERIMENT

Abstract

With a growing awareness regarding excessive plastic bag usage in Singapore, this paper shall examine the effect of a ten-cent incentive provided voluntarily by a store on its level of plastic bag consumption and store’s image. Additionally, this paper compares two ways of framing the incentive – as a discount and as a reward. A field experiment was carried out over a span of five weeks with the cooperation of five fashion retail stores across Singapore. Results reveal that a ten-cent incentive is effective in reducing plastic bag usage regardless of its framing. However, its effectiveness largely depends on having an environmentally-conscious customer base. The effect of the incentive on the store’s image is affected by its framing. The discount frame had a more favourable impact on the store’s image relative to the reward frame. This may be explained by the unfamiliarity with the term ‘reward’.