Research Design Connection: Encouraging Sustainable Change

by Sally Augustin, Ph.D. | March 7th, 2016

Want to encourage people to behave more sustainably? Take action when they’re in the middle of a life-changing event, such as an office relocation. Verplanken and Roy determined that “behaviour change interventions are more effective when delivered in the context of life course changes…when habits are (temporarily) disturbed, people are more sensitive to new information and adopt a mindset that is conducive to behaviour change.” The duo conducted “A field experiment…among 800 participants, who received either an intervention promoting sustainable behaviours, or were in a no-intervention control condition. In both conditions half of the households had recently relocated, and were matched with households that had not relocated. Self-reported frequencies of twenty-five environment-related behaviours were assessed at baseline and eight weeks later…the intervention was more effective among recently relocated participants.” Past behaviour, habit strength, intentions, perceived control, biospheric values, personal norms and personal involvement were statistically eliminated as potential explanations for …