Designing Interventions that Last: A Classification of Environmental Behaviors in Relation to the Activities, Costs, and Effort Involved for Adoption and Maintenance.

Harriet E. Moore,Jennifer Boldero

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01874

Abstract

Policy makers draw on behavioral research to design interventions that promote the voluntary adoption of environmental behavior in societies. Many environmental behaviors will only be effective if they are maintained over the long-term. In the context of climate change and concerns about future water security, behaviors that involve reducing energy consumption and improving water quality must be continued indefinitely to mitigate global warming and preserve scarce resources. Previous reviews of environmental behavior have focused exclusively on factors related to adoption. This review investigates the factors that influence both adoption and maintenance, and presents a classification of environmental behaviors in terms of the activities, costs, and effort required for both adoption and maintenance. Three categories of behavior are suggested. One-off behaviors involve performing an activity once, such as purchasing an energy efficient washing machine, or signing a petition. Continuous behaviors involve the performance of the same set of behaviors for adoption and for maintenance, such as curbside recycling. Dynamic behaviors involve the performance of different behaviors for adoption and maintenance, such as revegetation. Behaviors can also be classified into four categories related to cost and effort: those that involve little cost and effort for adoption and maintenance, those that involve moderate cost and effort for adoption and maintenance, those that involve a high cost or effort for adoption and less for maintenance, and those that involve less cost or effort for adoption and a higher amount for maintenance. In order to design interventions that last, policy makers should consider the factors that influence the maintenance as well as the adoption of environmental behaviors.

Highlights

Policy makers draw on environmental psychology research to design interventions that promote environmental behavior in societies (Burton, 2004; Cialdini, 2007)
While the initial adoption of a new agricultural environmental behavior may be related to cognitive factors, over time the additional costs and effort associated with the changing activities involved for maintenance may result in the discontinuation of behaviors
While Dembkowski and Hanmer-Lloyd (1994) suggest that cost and effort have a similar effect on the willingness of individuals to adopt environmental behaviors, such as making environmentally responsible consumer choices, we argue that the distinction is important from the perspective of designing interventions

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Policy makers draw on environmental psychology research to design interventions that promote environmental behavior in societies (Burton, 2004; Cialdini, 2007). In America (Agouridis et al, 2005) and Australia (Brooks and Lake, 2007), cattle grazing is one of the biggest contributors to declining water quality and the degradation or riverine ecosystems Addressing some of these challenges involves promoting behaviors that are relatively straight-forward and easy to perform, such as reducing energy consumption domestically. We suggest that interventions are more likely to be effective if they are tailored to address the barriers and determinants of specific behaviors at the time of adoption, and over the long-term. It is necessary to identify the specific factors related to adoption and maintenance to design effective interventions This principle is as important for the design of interventions that promote environmental behavior. In order to design effective interventions, researchers and policy makers must first understand the dynamics of those behaviors

LITERATURE REVIEW

Summary of Theoretical Perspectives

CONCLUSIONS