Yes, but it depends in which way, and it may not last. From a new working paper by Paul Ferraro and Mike Price:
“Policymakers are increasingly using norm-based messages to influence individual decision-making. We partner with a metropolitan water utility to implement a natural field experiment examining the effect of such messages on residential water demand. The data, drawn from more than 100,000 households, indicate that social comparison messages had a greater influence on behavior than simple pro-social messages or technical information alone. Moreover, our data suggest social comparison messages are most effective among households identified as the least price sensitive: high-users. Yet the effectiveness of such messages wanes over time. Our results thus highlight important complementarities between pecuniary and non-pecuniary strategies.”
I remember discussing these findings with one of the authors, but I cannot for the life of me remember whether it was with Paul when he visited Duke this year or with Mike at a wedding we both attended in March (or both, on both occasions!)
I do remember, however, looking forward to seeing the working paper, which would make for a nice application to study in the Law, Economics, and Organization seminar I teach in the spring.