Moral Suasion

What is moral suasion?

Moral suasion, or moral persuasion, uses appeals to duty, shared values, or social responsibility to encourage an action. In behavioral policy research, it can mean asking people to act for a collective benefit without changing the price they face.

Research example

Ito, Ida, and Tanaka’s field experiment compared conservation appeals with dynamic electricity prices. Responses to repeated appeals diminished, but could return after an interval without the intervention. Price incentives showed a different pattern.

Illustrative example

Asking households to reduce electricity use during a peak-demand period to help the community is a moral appeal. Offering a payment or changing the tariff is a distinct intervention, even if both seek the same behavior.

A charity appeal asking people to help neighbors in need is another illustration. In either case, the appeal does not remove practical barriers to acting. A review should consider what people can do, as well as what the message asks them to feel responsible for.

Limits

The cited experiment does not establish that appeals always work, or always work less well than incentives. Their content, repetition, audience, and outcome must be specified before making an effectiveness claim.