Step 2: Select and Design Tools to Implement Your Strategy
The tools must be tailored to the barriers and benefits you identified. For example, if lack of motivation is a barrier, you might consider the use of incentives. Be sure to choose tools to address your threshold barrier or key benefits identified in Step 4. Here are social science tools you may choose:
Commitment
A public affirmation of a specific action that others can view. Getting people to commit to one particular action can often lead to larger behavioral changes. Research has shown that when people commit to an action either personally or publicly, they are more likely to follow through on that behavior into the future. This ties into people’s innate desire to appear trustworthy to their peers and consistent with their own internal commitments. To help utilize commitment strategies as a way to foster sustainable behavior, use tactics including verbal, group, or public pledges.
Feedback
Providing information about the level of success or need for improvement in response to a particular behavior. Typically, feedback provides an individual with measures of a physical characteristic, such as consumption of electricity, gallons of water consumed, or miles/gallon.
How To Skills
Information and/or training on how to carry out environmentally responsible behaviors.
Prompts
A short, simple reminder to the audience to engage in the behavior.
Social Norms
Demonstrating the importance of a behavior to people, either by describing the behavior as socially acceptable and common or socially unacceptable and uncommon.
Social Diffusion
Spreading behavior adoption through communication within an existing network of trusted relationships.
Convenience
Providing structures, systems or services that make engaging in the behavior less difficult or easier. Convenience strategies will reduce the time, trouble or effort needed to adopt the behavior. Convenience can come in the form of improved products, services and environments in which people are making decisions.
Incentives (Extrinsic and Intrinsic Rewards)
Incentives can work wonders in boosting individuals’ motivation to adopt new behaviors. Incentives can encourage people to perform current actions more effectively, or to begin an activity in which they otherwise would not engage. Incentives are most effective when presented at the time the behavior should occur; for example, charging for the use of plastic shopping bags at checkout brings attention to the cost of using disposable bags and increases motivation to bring reusable bags.
Determining the right tools to overcome barriers:
- Barrier
- Lack of Motivation
- Tool
- Commitment, Social Norms, Incentives
- Barrier
- Forget to Act
- Tool
- Prompts
- Barrier
- Structural Barriers
- Tool
- Convenience
- Barrier
- Lack of Knowledge
- Tool
- Communication, Social Diffusion
- Barrier
- Lack of Social Pressure
- Tool
- Social Norms
Remember, building awareness is not a tool or strategy for behavior change. Often your tools need to carry a message. To achieve behavior change through communication, first understand the behaviors and attitudes of your intended audience. Next, ensure your message is vivid, personal, concrete, specific and easy to remember. The messenger needs to be credible to the priority audience and the message should be delivered in person whenever possible. Consider promoting the positive feelings people will experience as a result of engaging in this behavior (this behavior is fun, exciting or rewarding). Pilot testing messages and images can also be helpful. The Journal of Environmental Communication can be a resource for messaging.