Increasing sustainable user behavior in digital products through transparent sustainability information

Sustainable user behavior and purchasing preferences are crucial in combating the climate crisis and encourage businesses to develop eco-efficient and sustainable products. This study examines the impact of transparency in sustainability information for digital products on users' behavior, conducting an online study with 80 participants. Participants were asked to decide for a website from a search result list - in the experimental condition the result list additionally contained information on the energy type the website was hosted (fossil or renewable energy). The results reveal that the inclusion of sustainability information in search results significantly influences users, leading to an increased preference for search results hosted on renewable energy platforms.