The SHIFT framework: Changing Sustainable Consumer Behaviors for Good
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The document outlines the SHIFT framework for changing sustainable consumer behaviors. It discusses how social influence, habits, feelings, and tangibility can impact behaviors. For social influence, it explains how social norms, social desirability, and social groups shape actions. It also discusses breaking bad habits and forming new ones. For individual factors, it addresses self-values, self-interest, self-efficacy, self-concept, and consistency. The document provides examples of grasscycling in Calgary to demonstrate combining appeals to social influence and individual factors.
The SHIFT framework: Changing Sustainable Consumer Behaviors for Good
- 1. The SHIFT Framework: Changing Sustainable Consumer Behaviors for Good
- 2. Consumer Behavior and Sustainability How many Earth’s do we need? Challenges to encouraging sustainable consumer behaviours
- 4. ocial Influence Social Norms Social Desirability Social Group Memberships S
- 5. A) Social Norms: Socially driven informal rules that guide behaviour Many unsustainable behaviors are the norm!
- 6. Consumer Energy Conservation Example 1207 households in California Information only Descriptive norm Environmental Self-benefit Social responsibility Delivered on door hangers to households for 4 weeks Meter readings of electricity consumption Schultz et al. 2003
- 7. 12 12.2 12.4 12.6 12.8 13 13.2 13.4 13.6 13.8 14 14.2 Daily Household Energy Consumption AverageKilowattHoursConsumed perDay Self-interest Social Responsibility Descriptive Norms Environmental Information Only Average Daily Household Energy Consumption
- 8. B) Social Desirability Increase social desirability Highlight public settings Ask for public commitments
- 9. Associate Sustainable Actions with Aspirational Individuals
- 10. Highlight Public Contexts Green and Peloza (2014) Public vs. Private Purchase intentions
- 11. Vehicle Purchase Intentions 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Public Private Self-Benefit Enviro-Benefit
- 12. C) Social Group Memberships • Membership • Aspirational • Dissociative
- 13. Social Groups Example: Don’t Mess with Texas
- 14. Dissociative Groups Example Research assistant posing as coffee shop employee offers students a free sample of a coffee product in a compostable cup Manipulation of Reference Group Membership Group Dissociative GroupControl Group White and Simpson 2013
- 15. Reference Group Manipulation “We are trying to encourage students to compost because of a new initiative on campus. Recently, a survey was conducted and it found that Business Students (Computing Science) students are the most effective in composting efforts when comparing across the student groups.”
- 16. Percent Composting Their Cup 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% Reference Group Type Membership Group Control Group Dissociative Group Implications:
- 17. abit Many existing habits are less sustainable Break bad habits Form new positive habits H
- 18. A) Breaking Bad Habits: Discontinuity
- 19. Breaking Bad Habits: Penalties
- 20. B) Forming Positive Habits Make it easy Defaults… Give Feedback
- 21. Forming Positive Habits Offer incentives Use prompts
- 22. ndividual Self Appeal to self-values Appeal to self-interest Self-efficacy Self-concept Self-consistency I
- 25. Appealing to Self-Interest by Breaking Down Barriers…
- 26. Self-Efficacy Ability Efficacy: I can engage in the action Outcome Efficacy: I am confident that my actions will have an impact
- 27. Self-Concept Psychological motive to view the self positively Men perceive sustainability as being a “feminine” attribute and will avoid eco-friendly options (Brough et al. 2016)
- 29. Self-Consistency and Commitment Capitalize on commitment and consistency Once a person commits to something, they are more likely to continue with the positive action Public and durable commitments! McKenzie-Mohr 2011
- 30. When Consistency Backfires Slacktivism: small token public acts towards a cause don’t increase subsequent positive actions This about how the cause connects to values Ask for real commitments, not just symbolic displays Kristofferson, White, and Peloza 2016
- 31. F eelings Negative emotional Appeals Fear and guilt When do negative emotions work best?
- 32. Too much?
- 34. Positive emotions Positive emotions Hope efficacy Make it fun!
- 35. T angibility The challenge of sustainable actions: Psychologically distant Abstract, distant, vague, for others… Behaviours with uncertain pay-offs
- 36. Make it Tangible: Verify Sustainable Attributes
- 37. Bring it to life
- 38. Make it Concrete “If everyone in New York City were to wash their laundry in cold water for ONE DAY this would be enough electricity to light up the empire state building for one month”
- 39. Use Analogies…
- 40. Use Comparisons…
- 41. Make impacts clear and local
- 43. Case Example: Grasscycling In Calgary The context of grasscycling What exactly do we want to influence?
- 44. Case Example: Grasscycling In Calgary Needed to focus on homeowners who had lawns, especially in suburban areas
- 45. Case Example: Grasscycling In Calgary Injunctive Norms • Norms that reflect what others think should be done Descriptive Norms • Norms that describe what other people are doing Self-Benefits • What is in it for me?
- 46. Self-Benefits ● Think about the benefits for you as an individual if you grasscycle…Think of the time you can save on your yard work. Descriptive Norms ● Your neighbors are grasscycling…Join others in your community in grasscycling this spring and summer. Injunctive Norms ● Your neighbors want you to grasscycle… Grasscycling is something you should do for your community. Social influence and Individual Self
- 47. Individual Self • “you as an individual…” • “you can make a difference” Collective Self • “we as a community” • “we can make a difference”
- 48. Method Part A: In conjunction with City employees, grasscycling activities for 696 households were recorded for a period of three weeks. Part C: Grasscycling activities recorded for a period of three weeks. Part B: Appeals delivered on door hangers to each household. Varied Level of Self (individual vs. collective) and Appeal Type (self-benefit vs. descriptive norm vs. injunctive norm.
- 49. Grass Disposal Difference Scores (T1-T2) -0.495 -0.257 -0.473 -0.392 -0.445 -0.472 -0.25 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 Individual/Benefit Individual/Injunctive Individual/Descriptive Collective/Benefit Collective/Injunctive Collective/Descriptive Control **
- 50. Grass Disposal Difference Scores (T1-T2) -0.495 -0.257 -0.473 -0.392 -0.445 -0.472 -0.25 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 Individual/Benefit Individual/Injunctive Individual/Descriptive Collective/Benefit Collective/Injunctive Collective/Descriptive Control **
- 51. City of Calgary implemented descriptive norms/ collective self messaging Remember that one concept or tool does not work “best” Consider goals, the behavior, context, target market, barriers and benefits Don’t be afraid to combine tools if it is appropriate your case!
- 52. Thank You!
Editor's Notes
- #11: instructing those in the private condition that their responses would be anonymous and confidential. Participants were provided a sealed envelope to return their completed surveys. In addition, the instructions on the paper-and-pen questionnaire completed for the experiment reminded the participants that all responses would remain anonymous and confidential. Participants in the public condition were asked to complete the surveys individually before informal discussions in small groups of six to eight people were to take place to replicate a focus group setting. T
- #12: 7-point scales
- #14: www.dontmesswithtexas.org/the-campaign/30-years/
- #15: At a coffee shop frequented by business students Reference group: membership group vs. dissociative outgroup vs. control Pretest: Computing science students are viewed as a dissociative group and business students are viewed as a membership group DV: Unobtrusive observer recorded whether or not participants disposed of their cup in the composting receptacle
- #17: )
- #18: Habits form slowly over time through repeated action. They are then likely to recur automatically without much conscious control or effort in stable contexts, such as the same location or time of day (Verplanken and Aarts 1999). Well, the One-o-One Travel Mug (conceived by Hangar Design) for Taiwanese brand Acera treads this contemporary design path, with its commemorative depiction of Taipei’s renowned skyline dotted with skyscrapers. The prefix ‘One-o-One’ comes from Taipei 101’s acronym, which held the record title for the world’s tallest building for many years, before the advent of Burj Khalifa. More interestingly, the Taipei 101 is also the world’s tallest green building with its rare LEED Platinum certification. If the context in which habits arise and/or are carried out breaks or becomes unstable, it is more difficult for people to automatically carry out behaviours. Thus a changed context can promote the use of conscious decision making and set up more ideal conditions for people to change their existing habits. Previous studies have shown that during big life changes (i.e., when contexts are less likely to be stable), people are more likely to increase their eco-friendly behaviours (Bamberg 2006; Thøgersen 2012; Verplanken et al. 2008; Walker, Thomas, and Verplanken 2015). In one study, half of the 800 participating households had recently relocated and were matched on household size, home ownership, recycling facilities, and access to public transport with households that had not recently moved. The study first determined a baseline for sustainable habits through a survey. Half the participants were then given the intervention, which consisted of an interview, a selection of sustainable items, information, and a newsletter. The researchers found that people who had moved within the last three months were more likely to pick up more environmentally friendly behaviours after the intervention (Verplanken and Roy 2016). Although informational campaigns have found it difficult to change strong habits, combining them with context changes can greatly improve effectiveness.
- #19: Ask people to change their habits during context shifts. Big moves such as house relocation, starting a new job, etc., are a good time to try to get people to start new habits.
- #20: Consider using penalties only if you can monitor and enforce the program. If you use penalties, don’t use penalties that are considered to be extreme or unfair.
- #21: Tool #1: Make It Easy Make the sustainable behaviour less costly, less effortful, or easier to do. Set green behaviours and options to be the default choice. Tool #2: Incentives Provide non-monetary incentives such as gifts or tokens and/or large monetary incentives such as the chance to win prize money. Be careful when giving monetary incentives because this can backfire if the savings are small and can discourage altruistic motives. Tool #3: Prompts Use prompts to remind people to engage in the desired sustainable consumer behavior. Ensure that prompts are noticeable, clear, and in close proximity to where the actual behavior will be carried out. Tool #4: Feedback Give frequent and regular feedback over a long time. Present the feedback clearly and appealingly. Provide individualized real-time feedback when possible rather than comparative peer feedback when in a non-group setting.
- #22: Tool #1: Make It Easy Make the sustainable behaviour less costly, less effortful, or easier to do. Set green behaviours and options to be the default choice. Tool #2: Incentives Provide non-monetary incentives such as gifts or tokens and/or large monetary incentives such as the chance to win prize money. Be careful when giving monetary incentives because this can backfire if the savings are small and can discourage altruistic motives. Tool #3: Prompts Use prompts to remind people to engage in the desired sustainable consumer behavior. Ensure that prompts are noticeable, clear, and in close proximity to where the actual behavior will be carried out. Tool #4: Feedback Give frequent and regular feedback over a long time. Present the feedback clearly and appealingly. Provide individualized real-time feedback when possible rather than comparative peer feedback when in a non-group setting.
- #27: include beliefs that sustainable attributes diminish other attributes that are important to the self, such as functionality (Lin and Chang 2013; Luchs et al. 2010; Newman, Gorlin, and Dhar 2014), aesthetics (Luchs and Kumar 2017), effort (Johnstone and Tan 2015), or affordability (Hugner et al. 2007).
- #37: Use third party labelling to verify “credence” qualities Makes it seem transparent, credible, and trustworthy
- #39: If everyone in New York City were to wash their laundry in cold water for ONE DAY this would be enough electricity to light up the empire state building for one month!!!
- #42: 155 miles of driving is the same as eating 2.2 lbs of beef!!!!