Behaviour Change for the Sharing Economy

Abstract

Our understanding of human behavior and how to effect changes in behavior have evolved to the point where behavior change techniques have been applied successfully in areas as diverse as public health, advertising and retail. Despite its successes, behavior change science remains largely unknown among the engineering and technology community. In this chapter we provide a brief introduction to a vast field of knowledge. We describe practical behavior change tools and techniques that can be used to design behavioral interventions as elements of complex projects such as are typical of the sharing economy. Structured design of behavioral change programs is discussed and key concepts discussed followed by an overview of important techniques such as the COM-B Model, the Behavior Change Wheel. The Taxonomy of Behavior Change Techniques we discuss sits in an exciting area of active research using ontology techniques to organize knowledge. This approach lends itself naturally to application of technological tools such as artificial intelligence. Behavior change is a rapidly evolving science with sufficient rigorous and structured underpinnings to support more holistic design of complex projects where human behaviors are critical to sustainability and long-term success. We invite the reader to see this chapter as a practical introduction and to use the accompanying references to explore the literature around this fascinating subject.