Keep It Simple: Why Theory-Derived Messages Do Not Outperform a Neutral Appeal for Tourist Water Saving

Field experiments designed to change tourist behaviour are expensive, labour-intensive, and require strong industry partnerships. Pre-testing intervention materials before deployment is therefore essential — but existing protocols leave two critical gaps. They offer no guidance on whether supposedly neutral control messages are actually neutral, and they rarely account for how interventions may perform differently across tourist nationalities. This study tests an extended pre-testing protocol in the context of water saving during farm tourism stays, with instructive and somewhat counterintuitive results.

How the research was done

Two pre-registered, between-subjects online survey experiments were conducted through Prolific Academic. Study 1 recruited 845 Australian participants; Study 2 recruited 786 UK participants. Each study tested five theory-informed messages drawn from value-belief-norm theory (environmental beliefs and food-related beliefs), identity theory (self-identity), social comparison theory (social norms), and habit-enjoyment-effort theory (humour), alongside a neutral message and a no-message control. Messages were framed in either a farm-specific or global context, yielding 13 experimental conditions in Study 1 and 12 in Study 2. Study 2 added conditions to disentangle the effect of contextual images from message content itself.

Participants read a scenario in which they imagined staying as a tourist on an Australian farm and then encountered the message displayed in the bathroom, before reporting their water-saving intentions. Dependent variables included intended shower duration in minutes, the likelihood of trying to save water while showering, and the likelihood of showering shorter than at home. Theoretical constructs and emotional reactions were also measured. Linear regression and chi-square tests were used for analysis, with false discovery rate correction applied for multiple comparisons.

What the research found

All messages, including the neutral message, significantly increased water-saving intentions compared to the no-message control, with medium to large effect sizes. The critical finding, however, was that none of the theory-derived messages outperformed the neutral message in either study. Adding psychological framing — whether environmental consequences, food security arguments, social norms, self-identity cues, or humour — did not reliably amplify behavioural intentions beyond the baseline of a simple request to save water. The humour message was the sole exception in terms of mechanism activation: it was the only theory-derived message to significantly increase its intended construct (amusement) above the neutral condition, with a large effect size of 0.85 in Study 1.

The study also demonstrated that the neutral message was not actually neutral: it activated several theoretical constructs above the no-message control level, meaning that comparisons between theory-derived messages and a supposedly neutral control may have been systematically underestimating intervention effects in prior research. Environmental belief and food belief messages increased negative emotions including guilt, distress, and shame alongside any positive effects, raising practical concerns about their desirability as field interventions in an enjoyment-focused holiday context. Cross-cultural differences between Australian and UK participants were substantial: farm-context framing produced small but significant effects on Australian participants' stated intentions but was less consistent among UK respondents, and the two groups responded differently to norm-based and identity-based appeals.

Insights for the industry

For accommodation operators seeking to encourage sustainable guest behaviour, the study's primary practical message is straightforward: a clear, direct request to save water is likely to be just as effective as elaborate messaging built on environmental psychology. Adding narrative layers — environmental consequences, social comparisons, self-identity appeals — does not reliably amplify the effect and can introduce negative emotional reactions, particularly guilt, shame, and distress, that are unlikely to enhance a guest's holiday experience. A simple ask is not a second-best option; in this context, it is the evidence-based one.

Humour-based messaging is the one approach that may offer a supplementary advantage, by positively engaging guests without triggering the negative affect profile associated with more morally weighted messages. The cross-cultural differences identified in the study are also directly relevant for properties serving internationally diverse guest populations: messaging that resonates with Australian guests may not work for guests from the UK, and the same principle applies across other cultural pairings. Pre-testing intervention materials with a sample that reflects the actual guest mix at a given property — using the structured protocol outlined in this paper — is a manageable and practically valuable step before any sustainable behaviour campaign is deployed at scale.