Influencing Behaviours: Moving Beyond the Individual
Research Funding Body
Scottish Government
Author
Darnton, A and Horne, J
Project Objectives
This guide offers a framework for influencing behaviour. It brings together the main concepts from across the principal academic disciplines and turns them into a tool to be used throughout the policy process. It also provides a way to evaluate new and existing policy and interventions.
Why relevant to improve implementation and uptake of water quality measures
Influencing behaviours is difficult to achieve and there is no off-the-shelf nor ‘magic bullet’ solutions. This guide offers a tool for practitioners whose work ultimately aims at engaging people and influencing their behaviours in order to deliver improved outcomes. This tool is designed to be applicable in a range of topic areas which require social change, including water quality.
Method
Literature review
Key Results
This guide considers that there are three levels or contexts which need to be considered in influencing behaviour, these include the Individual, Social and Material. The individual context includes the factors held by the individual that affect the choices and the behaviours he or she undertakes. The social context refers to the factors that exist beyond the individual in the social realm, yet shape his or her behaviours. The material context includes factors that are ‘out there’ in the environment and wider world, which both constrain and shape behaviour.
There are a range of factors which will influence behaviour within each of these contexts including;
- Individual - values, beliefs, attitudes, costs and benefits, emotions, agency, skill and habit
- Social - opinion leaders, institutions, norms, roles and identity, tastes, meanings, networks and relationships
- Material context – rules and regulations, technologies, infrastructure, objects, time and schedules
All need to be considered and understood when creating and/or evaluating policy.
Year
2013
