So:

✅ Identity can be shaped

✅ Actions ONLY shape how we see ourselves when the identity-action link is salient.

✅ Linking behavior to identity creates lasting change.

Paper ➡️ [https://tinyurl.com/3b7jha2b]

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The result?

📉 Non-payment for water nearly eradicated
💰 ROI: over 3,000%
🪙 Cost: ~22 cents per household
🧠 And people liked the messages

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Why?

Identity appeals induce a permanent intrinsic motivation: Individuals continue to see their actions as a credible signal about their identity.

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And long term?

⚠️ Simple reminders backfired. Payments dropped below even the control group after the intervention ended. A zero effect over the span of a year.

✅ Identity appeals, by contrast, sustained high payments.

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👉 Only identity appeals changed how people saw themselves.

People who didn’t pay under identity appeals felt less like responsible citizens afterward. They updated their self-perception based on their actions.

No change under simple reminders.

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I tested two kinds of messages placed on the water bills:

✅ Identity appeals
→ Creating a link between paying and being a “responsible citizen.”

❌ Simple reminders
→ No mention of identity

Both boosted short-term payments.

But the long-term effects? Fundamentally different.

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To find out, I ran a large-scale field experiment:

📊 11,434 households
📬 29,677 hand-delivered messages
💧 A public water utility struggling to collect water bill payments

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Our identity (or self-perception) influences a host of behaviors such as educational investments, political participation, and also civic duties.

But here’s a question:

👉 Can actions change how we see ourselves?

And if so… can policymakers use that to induce sustained behavioral change?

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