arXiv subjects

Celina Kacperski

Publications and source records attributed to Celina Kacperski.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Self-directed online information search can affect policy support: a randomized encouragement design with digital behavioral data

As citizens increasingly encounter political information in digital environments, understanding whether this engagement shapes their policy views has become a central concern. Drawing on dual-process theories of persuasion, we argue that motivational activation is an enabling condition for policy support change in high-choice online environments. We test this in a three-wave field experiment with German participants (n = 791) across three policy topics (basic child support, renewable energy transition, cannabis legalization), in which participants were randomly assigned to a control group, and two encouragement conditions: a verbal encouragement, or a monetary incentive tied to a knowledge test. Browsing behavior was passively tracked via digital trace data over a 20-hour window. We find that self-directed online information search produced changes in policy support for child support and cannabis legalization but not for the energy transition, with monetary incentives producing significant effects rather than verbal prompts. We discuss motivational salience, issue malleability, and search-environment quality as joint conditions under which political information engagement can produce detectable changes in policy support.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2026

The Knowledge Gap in a High-Choice Media Environment: Experimental Evidence from Online Search

Persistent inequalities in political knowledge are a central concern in political communication. We organize the mechanisms underlying the knowledge-gap literature by distinguishing between individual preconditions, structural features of the information environment, and topic characteristics. Within this framework, we note that self-directed information seeking, a prototypical form of intentional exposure, has received little attention despite its importance in navigating today's complex information environment. We conducted a field experiment in Germany combining randomized encouragements and passive browser tracking to examine how individuals with varying education levels acquire policy-specific knowledge through online search. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (verbal encouragement, financial encouragement, or control) to seek information on three salient policy topics differing in divisiveness and complexity (child support, energy transition, and cannabis legalization). We estimate both intention-to-treat (ITT) and local average treatment effects (LATE) of information seeking on post-search knowledge outcomes, with a focus on education and civic knowledge as moderators. While the interventions equalized information-seeking behavior, the results provide some support for the knowledge gap hypothesis: knowledge gains were concentrated among participants with higher education or baseline civic knowledge, who, according to our post-hoc exploratory analyses, appeared more effective at navigating search results. These findings indicate that a narrowing of knowledge inequalities goes beyond motivation: it calls for both individual-level interventions to strengthen citizens' skills and structural-level adaptations to foster more equitable learning environments.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2026

Solar-charge your car: EV charging can be aligned with renewables by providing pro-environmental information on a smartboard

Integrating electric vehicle (EV) charging with renewable energy production is essential for reducing the transport sector's carbon footprint, but effective and scalable strategies to align individual charging behavior with renewable supply remain underexplored. This quasi-experimental field study tests whether real-time prescriptive informational cues can influence EV drivers to charge during periods of high renewable energy availability. A smartboard displaying dynamic "charge green now" and "charge later" signals based on local photovoltaic forecasts and market prices was installed at a semi-residential charging facility in Ghent, Belgium. Hourly charging data (N = 619 days) were analyzed using a difference-in-differences design of lamp states between control-intervention garages at pre-trial and during-trial. Results are consistent with a behavioral effect of the "charge green now" smartboard lamps increasing number of charging operations and the total kWh charged during renewable-rich periods, without financial incentives. Emission modelling estimates that charging at the hours observed during the trial was associated with approximately 20% lower CO2-equivalent emissions compared with baseline charging patterns. These findings suggest that non-financial interventions, i.e., providing salient, real-time prescriptive information, may meaningfully contribute to demand-side flexibility in EV charging. The study offers practical insights for designing non-financial demand response mechanisms and offers a scalable, cost-effective method for reducing greenhouse gas emissions of EVs.

cs.ET↗

arXiv2025

Heating reduction as collective action: Impact on attitudes, behavior and energy consumption in a Polish field experiment

Heating and hot water usage account for nearly 80% of household energy consumption in the European Union. In order to reach the EU New Deal goals, new policies to reduce heat energy consumption are indispensable. However, research targeting reductions concentrates either on technical building interventions without considerations of people's behavior, or psychological interventions with no technical interference. Such interventions can be promising, but their true potential for scaling up can only be realized by testing approaches that integrate behavioral and technical solutions in tandem rather than in isolation. In this research, we study a mix of psychological and technical interventions targeting heating and hot water demand among students in Polish university dormitories. We evaluate effects on building energy consumption, behavioral spillovers and on social beliefs and attitudes in a pre-post quasi-experimental mixed-method field study in three student dormitories. Our findings reveal that the most effective approaches to yield energy savings were a direct, collectively framed request to students to reduce thermostat settings for the environment, and an automated technical adjustment of the heating curve temperature. Conversely, interventions targeting domestic hot water had unintended effects, including increased energy use and negative spillovers, such as higher water consumption. Further, we find that informing students about their active, collective participation had a positive impact on perceived social norms. Our findings highlight the importance of trialing interventions in controlled real-world settings to understand the interplay between technical systems, behaviors, and social impacts to enable scalable, evidence-based policies driving an effective and sustainable energy transition.

cs.ET↗

arXiv2025

Characteristics of ChatGPT users from Germany: implications for the digital divide from web tracking data

A major challenge of our time is reducing disparities in access to and effective use of digital technologies, with recent discussions highlighting the role of AI in exacerbating the digital divide. We examine user characteristics that predict usage of the AI-powered conversational agent ChatGPT. We combine behavioral and survey data in a web tracked sample of N = 1376 German citizens to investigate differences in ChatGPT activity (usage, visits, and adoption) during the first 11 months from the launch of the service (November 30, 2022). Guided by a model of technology acceptance (UTAUT-2), we examine the role of socio-demographics commonly associated with the digital divide in ChatGPT activity and explore further socio-political attributes identified via stability selection in Lasso regressions. We confirm that lower age and higher education affect ChatGPT usage, but do not find that gender or income do. We find full-time employment and more children to be barriers to ChatGPT activity. Using a variety of social media was positively associated with ChatGPT activity. In terms of political variables, political knowledge and political self-efficacy as well as some political behaviors such as voting, debating political issues online and offline and political action online were all associated with ChatGPT activity, with online political debating and political self-efficacy negatively so. Finally, need for cognition and communication skills such as writing, attending meetings, or giving presentations, were also associated with ChatGPT engagement, though chairing/organizing meetings was negatively associated. Our research informs efforts to address digital disparities and promote digital literacy among underserved populations by presenting implications, recommendations, and discussions on ethical and social issues of our findings.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2025

Financial and symbolic incentives promote 'green' charging choices

Electromobility can contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions if usage behavior is aligned with the increasing availability of renewable energy. To achieve this, smart navigation systems can be used to inform drivers of optimal charging times and locations. Yet, required flexibility may impart time penalties. We investigate the impact of financial and symbolic incentive schemes to counteract these additional costs. In a laboratory experiment with real-life time costs, we find that monetary and symbolic incentives are both effective in changing behavior towards 'greener' charging choices, while we find no significant statistical difference between them.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2025

Opting Out of Generative AI: a Behavioral Experiment on the Role of Education in Perplexity AI Avoidance

The rise of conversational AI (CAI), powered by large language models, is transforming how individuals access and interact with digital information. However, these tools may inadvertently amplify existing digital inequalities. This study investigates whether differences in formal education are associated with CAI avoidance, leveraging behavioral data from an online experiment (N = 1,636). Participants were randomly assigned to a control or an information-seeking task, either a traditional online search or a CAI (Perplexity AI). Task avoidance (operationalized as survey abandonment or providing unrelated responses during task assignment) was significantly higher in the CAI group (51%) compared to the search (30.9%) and control (16.8%) groups, with the highest CAI avoidance among participants with lower education levels (~74.4%). Structural equation modeling based on the theoretical framework UTAUT2 and LASSO regressions reveal that education is strongly associated with CAI avoidance, even after accounting for various cognitive and affective predictors of technology adoption. These findings underscore education's central role in shaping AI adoption and the role of self-selection biases in AI-related research, stressing the need for inclusive design to ensure equitable access to emerging technologies.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2025

Enhancing autonomous vehicle acceptance with age and education sensitive simulation interventions: An experimental trial

The familiarity principle posits that acceptance increases with exposure, which has previously been shown with in vivo and simulated experiences with connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs). We investigate the impact of a simulated video-based first-person drive on CAV acceptance, as well as the impact of information customization, with a particular focus on acceptance by older individuals and those with lower education. Findings from an online experiment with N=799 German residents reveal that the simulated experience improved acceptance across response variables such as intention to use and ease of use, particularly among older individuals. However, the opportunity to customize navigation information decreased acceptance of older individuals and those with university degrees and increased acceptance for younger individuals and those with lower educational levels.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

Understanding Intention to Adopt Smart Thermostats: The Role of Individual Predictors and Social Beliefs Across Five EU Countries

Heating of buildings represents a significant share of the energy consumption in Europe. Smart thermostats that capitalize on the data-driven analysis of heating patterns in order to optimize heat supply are a very promising part of building energy management technology. However, factors driving their acceptance by building inhabitants are poorly understood although being a prerequisite for fully tapping on their potential. In order to understand the driving forces of technology adoption in this use case, a large survey (N = 2250) was conducted in five EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Greece). For the data analysis structural equation modelling based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) was employed, which was extended by adding social beliefs, including descriptive social norms, collective efficacy, social identity and trust. As a result, performance expectancy, price value, and effort expectancy proved to be the most important predictors overall, with variations across countries. In sum, the adoption of smart thermostats appears more strongly associated with individual beliefs about their functioning, potentially reducing their adoption. At the end of the paper, implications for policy making and marketing of smart heating technologies are discussed.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2025

Tag-Pag: A Dedicated Tool for Systematic Web Page Annotations

Tag-Pag is an application designed to simplify the categorization of web pages, a task increasingly common for researchers who scrape web pages to analyze individuals' browsing patterns or train machine learning classifiers. Unlike existing tools that focus on annotating sections of text, Tag-Pag systematizes page-level annotations, allowing users to determine whether an entire document relates to one or multiple predefined topics. Tag-Pag offers an intuitive interface to configure the input web pages and annotation labels. It integrates libraries to extract content from the HTML and URL indicators to aid the annotation process. It provides direct access to both scraped and live versions of the web page. Our tool is designed to expedite the annotation process with features like quick navigation, label assignment, and export functionality, making it a versatile and efficient tool for various research applications. Tag-Pag is available at https://github.com/Pantonius/TagPag.

cs.IR↗

arXiv2025

Examining bias perpetuation in academic search engines: an algorithm audit of Google and Semantic Scholar

Researchers rely on academic Web search engines to find scientific sources, but search engine mechanisms may selectively present content that aligns with biases embedded in queries. This study examines whether confirmation biased queries prompted into Google Scholar and Semantic Scholar will yield results aligned with a query's bias. Six queries (topics across health and technology domains such as vaccines, Internet use) were analyzed for disparities in search results. We confirm that biased queries (targeting benefits or risks) affect search results in line with bias, with technology-related queries displaying more significant disparities. Overall, Semantic Scholar exhibited fewer disparities than Google Scholar. Topics rated as more polarizing did not consistently show more disparate results. Academic search results that perpetuate confirmation bias have strong implications for both researchers and citizens searching for evidence. More research is needed to explore how scientific inquiry and academic search engines interact.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2024

Increasing retrofit device adoption in social housing: evidence from two field experiments in Belgium

Energy efficient technologies are particularly important for social housing settings: they offer the potential to improve tenants' wellbeing through monetary savings and comfort, while reducing emissions of entire communities. Slow uptake of innovative energy technology in social housing has been associated with a lack of trust and the perceived risks of adoption. To counteract both, we designed a communication campaign for a retrofit technology for heating including social norms for technology adoption and concretely experienced benefits. We report two randomized controlled trials (RCT) in two different social housing communities in Belgium. In the first study, randomization was on housing block level: the communication led to significant higher uptake rates compared to the control group, (b = 1.7, p = .024). In the second study randomization occurred on apartment level, again yielding a significant increase (b = 1.62, p = 0.02), when an interaction with housing blocks was considered. We discuss challenges of conducting randomized controlled trials in social housing communities.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2024

Comparing autonomous vehicle acceptance of German residents with and without visual impairments

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) will greatly impact the lives of individuals with visual impairments, but how they differ in expectations compared to sighted individuals is not clear. The present research reports results based on survey responses from 114 visually impaired participants and 117 panel recruited participants without visual impairments, from Germany. Their attitudes towards autonomous vehicles and their expectations for consequences of wide-spread adoption of CAVs are assessed. Results indicate significantly more positive CAV attitudes in participants with visual impairments compared to those without visual impairments. Mediation analyses indicate that visually impaired individuals' more positive CAV attitudes (compared to sighted individuals') are largely explained by higher hopes for independence, and more optimistic expectations regarding safety and sustainability. Policy makers should ensure accessibility without sacrificing goals for higher safety and lower ecological impact to make CAVs an acceptable inclusive mobility solution.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

Ambivalence in stakeholders' views on connected and autonomous vehicles

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) are often discussed as a solution to pressing issues of the current transport systems, including congestion, safety, social inclusion and ecological sustainability. Scientifically, there is agreement that CAVs may solve, but can also aggravate these issues, depending on the specific CAV solution. In the current paper, we investigate the visions and worst-case scenarios of various stakeholders, including representatives of public administrations, automotive original equipment manufacturers, insurance companies, public transportation service providers, mobility experts and politicians. A qualitative analysis of 17 semi-structured interviews is presented. It reveals experts' ambivalence towards the introduction of CAVs, reflecting high levels of uncertainty about CAV consequences, including issues of efficiency, comfort and sustainability, and concerns about road co-users such as pedestrians and cyclists. Implications of the sluggishness of policymakers to set boundary conditions and for the labor market are discussed. An open debate between policymakers, citizens and other stakeholders on how to introduce CAVs seems timely.

cs.CY↗