Effects of group performance feedback and goal-setting in an organisational energy intervention

End-user energy demand (EUED) in the workplace is affected by a complex interaction between behavioural, social, technological, regulatory and organisational factors. Designing technology-led interventions to encourage pro-environmental behaviour that acknowledge and support this complexity is a significant challenge. This paper discusses the design and evaluation of an EUED intervention implemented in the corporate infrastructure of a UK university administration department. Two intervention types, group feedback and group goal-setting were implemented. 16 participants were recruited and engaged with a four stage study (baseline, group feedback, group goal setting, and baseline) for a duration of 4 months. This study design allowed us to track clearly any changes in mid-term energy usage behaviour during and beyond intervention. Findings suggest that, surprisingly, participant energy consumption increased during the intervention period compared to baseline conditions. These results demonstrate that simple group-based behaviour change methods can be counter-productive in the workplace, illustrating the complex and unpredictable nature of intervention in this design space.