Colloquium: Prof. Dr. Jale Tosun

Chemical analyses of drinking water in Germany have shown that it is of a high quality. Survey data has shown that Germans agree with this assessment and think that the quality and taste of tap water is good. Nonetheless, the consumption level of tap water in Germany is relatively low, which makes this country a particularly interesting case to learn about the barriers for the consumption of tap water. This research perspective is relevant since the EU Commission promotes the consumption of tap water as one of several measures to reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions from the transport of bottled water. In this study, we concentrate on the ideology of individuals living in Germany and examine to what extent it predicts the water consumption behavior. We hypothesize that individuals supporting the Green Party and The Left are more likely to drink tap water than individuals who ideologically align with right-wing parties. We collected original data by fielding a two-wave survey in fall 2021 with more than 5.800 respondents with a wide geographical distribution across Germany. The empirical findings support our theoretical reasoning and show that individuals who position themselves on the left end of the ideology scale drink more tap water compared to those who are located on the right end of the same scale. Furthermore, individuals who stated that they tend to vote for The Left and the Greens have a higher likelihood to consume tap water. We consider these findings an important founding block for understanding which actors could shape the water consumption behavior of individuals.