Peer Versus Top Management Communication and Energy‐Saving Behavioural Intentions in the Workplace: The Moderating Role of Personalised Framing

ABSTRACT

Employee engagement is pivotal for corporate sustainability, yet the role of information design in internal employee communication remains under‐specified. Drawing on Construal Level Theory, this study examines whether the effect of information sender (peer vs top management communication) on employees' energy‐saving behavioural intentions depends on information framing (personalised vs generic information). In a 2 × 2 experiment with UK employees ( N  = 264), personalisation significantly increased energy‐saving behavioural intentions relative to generic information. Sender differences alone were not statistically reliable, and the sender × framing interaction was not significant. A theory‐driven preplanned contrast showed that personalised peer information produced the highest behavioural intentions. Sender and framing are both theoretically social‐distance cues, yet they do not function equivalently: framing reliably shifted intentions on its own, whereas sender did not, potentially because sender is confounded with other variables such as organisational legitimacy. Practically, the findings indicate that lightweight personalisation offers a modest but scalable lever for strengthening energy‐saving behavioural intentions at work.