Behaviour Change Research and Guidance

• Home
• What is sustainable development?
• Key priority areas

---

• Consumption and production
• Natural resource protection
• Building sustainable communities
• Climate change and energy
• Changing behaviour
• Wellbeing

Recent Publications

Achieving Cultural Change: a policy framework

2005-6 Research Programme

In July 2005, Defra initiated a programme of research that aimed to broaden understanding of how Government (and others) can most effectively promote pro-environmental behaviour amongst producers and consumers. Several studies were commissioned as part of this research programme, each with a remit to explore a unique aspect of pro-environmental behaviour change.

The outputs from the programme of research are now complete and can be accessed via the links below.

• Promoting Pro-Environmental Behaviour: Existing Evidence to Inform Better Policy Making.

• By reviewing both theoretical and applied literature, this study provides a better practical understanding of how to influence behaviours, makes clear policy recommendations and will set an agenda for future work. Packaged in different forms, the project outputs will help policy makers (and practitioners) to select the right instruments for encouraging the pro-environmental behaviours they require among specific audience groups. The research was led by the Centre for Sustainable Development at Westminster University.
• The key findings from this study are outlined in a summary report.

• More comprehensive findings are contained in three separate reports focussing on theory, policy instruments and evidence from practice.
• Habitus and Style of Farming in Explaining the Adoption of Environmental Sustainability-Enhancing Behaviour.
• A team from the Countryside and Community Research Unit at the University of Gloucestershire considered how to develop a better understanding of how farmers learn and what influences their behaviour in order to achieve higher levels of uptake of Government initiatives.
• Sustainable Development as a "Collective-choice" Problem: Theoretical and Practical Implications of Success Exemplified in Locally Managed Irrigation.
• Cranfield University explored the potential of "collective action theory" for finding new ways of motivating people to produce and consume in a more sustainable manner. The study focused on applying the theory to policy areas concerned with scarce environmental resources such as water.
• Bringing Innovation to Existing Approaches to Influence the Behaviour of Small Businesses.
• A team from the National Centre for Business and Sustainability investigated how existing mechanisms and approaches can be used innovatively to influence the behaviour of small to medium-sized enterprises in a pro-sustainable development policy context.
• Promoting Sustainable Lifestyles: A Social Marketing Approach.
• A team from Exeter University combined quantitative and qualitative techniques to identify different "lifestyle groups" and highlighted how policy will have to vary in order to influence different groups.
• Triggering Widespread Adoption of Sustainable Behaviour.
• Brook Lyndhurst explored patterns of change relevant to environmental behaviour, in both consumer and business markets. The aim of this project is to illustrate the range and subtlety of possible interventions that might nudge a system towards S-curve development paths.
• Choice Matters: Alternative Approaches to Encourage Sustainable Consumption and Production.
• A team lead by the Environmental Psychology Research Group at the University of Surrey explored how to make sustainability an automatic and primary part of producer and consumer choice, rather than a self-satisfying added extra.

A Series of Practical Guides for Policy-Makers and Practitioners
The key findings and policy implications from this programme of research are summarised in a series of ten practical guides.

• Sustainable Resource Use in the Home
• Targeting Specific Lifestyle Groups
• Sustainable Development as a "Collective Choice" Problem
• Triggering Widespread Adoption of Sustainable Behaviour
• Understanding Choice
• Sustainable Shopping and Sustainable Production
• Enhancing Sustainability at Farm Level
• Tackling the Waste Challenge
• Encouraging Sustainability Amongst Small Businesses
• Sustainable Resource Use in Business and Organisations

Key findings and policy implications - diagrammatic overview

Defra researchers have begun to synthesise the key recurring messages from this research programme and have incorporated them into a one-page poster - for best effects adjust your printer settings to A3. If you would like to discuss this further please contact Tony Pike by emailing: behaviourchange@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Other Research and Guidance

• Model of behaviour change (PDF  28kb), (Defra, 2005)
• Motivating Sustainable Consumption (PDF 1190kb) - a review of evidence on consumer behaviour and behavioural change, (Tim Jackson, 2005)
• The impact of sustainable development on public behaviour ( PDF 170 KB), (Andrew Darnton, 2004)
• Driving public behaviours for sustainable lifestyles, (PDF 211kb), (Andrew Darnton, 2004)
• Personal Responsibility and Changing Behaviour: the state of knowledge and its implications for public policy, (PDF 361kb), (David Halpern, Prime Ministers Strategy Unit, 2004)
• Carrots, sticks and sermons: influencing public behaviour for environmental goals (Demos & Green Alliance, 2004)

Case studies

(i) Influencing people's travel behaviour:

1. Smarter choices - changing the way we travel (MS Powerpoint, 685kb), presentation by Jacqui Wilkinson, Department for Transport
2. Making smarter choices work, Department for Transport promotional guide

(ii) Applying behavioural economics in the Environment Agency

1. Behavioural Economics: developing principles, applications & modelling (PDF 90kb) Presentation, Henry Leveson-Gower, Environment Agency
2. Extending the “rational man” model of human behaviour: seven key principles - A briefing note for the Environment Agency by the New Economics Foundation. This guide aims primarily to be an aid to policy-makers who use economic tools by providing a summary of the latest thinking from behavioural economics.

(iii) How media dynamics illustrate and catalyse behaviour change

The Other Energy Crisis (MS Powerpoint, 1.3Mb), Presentation by David Fletcher, Mediaedge:cia

Useful links

• Education for sustainable development
• Examples of best practice
• Consumer products & the environment
• Model for changing behaviour (PDF)
• SD at community level