Developing Effective Messages to Increase HHW ParticipationPresented by: Amy Cabaniss, PhD

Mitchell College, New London, CTUniversity of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI

"Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them

to do because they want to do it."~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

What do you want them to do?

Clearly identify the behavior you want to promote

Photo

: Ron Fo

nger

Photo: Janice Ehle/Meyer

What goes into a message?

2 parts research 1 part resources 1 part creativity

Why bother with research?

• Necessary to develop an effective strategy

• Failure to ID barriers can result in a program with lesser impact

Research, shmesearch?

Myths…One size fits all… Research won’t tell us anything we don’t already know… All the public needs is more information… Research adds nothing more than time and expense…

A firm sense of your intended audience is needed for program success.

Research Methods

1. Literature reviewResearch literature on drop-off collections

Potential barriers:•Lack of knowledge (a “knowledge-deficit”)•Distance to the facility or single-day collection

Research Methods

2. Barrier identificationWhat do you need to know about your community so that you can create

programs with messages that resonate with them, and motivate them?

• Observational studies• Focus groups• Interviews• Surveys

Social marketing

• Emphasizes that effective program design begins with understanding the barriers people perceive to engaging in an activity

• Underscores the importance of strategically delivering programs to target specific segments and overcoming barriers to the segment’s engagement in the behavior

Community-based social marketing

• Social marketing offers a means of motivating voluntary behavior for personal and societal well-being through application of marketing principles (Andreasen, 1994).

• CBSM incorporates social psychology principles and is applied at the community level often with direct contact with people rather than communication through mass media channels (McKenzie-Mohr, 2011).

Community-based social marketing(CBSM)

Step 1: Selecting behaviorsStep 2: Identifying barriers and benefitsStep 3: Developing strategiesStep 4: PilotingStep 5: Broad-scale implementation and evaluation

Research example Part 1: Barrier SurveyTailored Design Method (Dillman, 2007) Random sample Multiple contacts Incentive to respond

Part 2: ExperimentDirect-mail Cards Information + prevalent attitude, subjective

norms Behavioral observation

Research example• Mail Survey• Constructed survey - to determine barriers to HHW collection

participation using Theory of Planned Behavior as the framework• 7-point semantic differential scale

Your participation in a household hazardous waste collection helps to protect the environment. disagree: ____:____:____:____:____:____:____:agree

-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

• Selected random sample from 24,926 single-family households (N = 2,409)• Direct-mailed survey using a modified* Tailored Design Method

(Dillman, 2007)

*(pre-notice letter; cover letter and survey, plus token incentive)

Theory of Planned Behavior

Behavioral Attitude Beliefs toward the

behavior

Normative Subjective Intention Behavior Beliefs norms

Control Perceived Beliefs Behavioral Control

Ajzen, I. (1991). The Theory of Planned Behavior, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, p. 182.

Hazardous household products in homes

Location

Directions to facility

Acceptable materials

Days operation in 2008

Unacceptable materials

Hours of operation in 2008

Satellite collection locations

Satellite collection dates

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

90%

68%

50%

33%

32%

27%

9%

8%

Respondent knowledge about HHW facility and collections

Survey respondent demographics• Gender – Female (57%); Male (41%); No response

(2%)• Race – White (93%)• Age - 20 to 80+; Median age = 57 (SD= 13.7) • Education - College degree (35%); Graduate

degree (30%)• Household Income - up to $49,999 (14%); $50,000

to $99,999 (28%); $100,000+ (31%); ‘Decline to Say’ (20%)

• Distance to facility - 0-5 miles (30%); 6-10 miles (33%); 11 to 15 miles (22%)

(N=983)

Possible barriers & benefits to participation

Barriers• Lack of knowledge• High cost of behavior• Low perceived behavioral control• Mixed subjective norms

Benefits• Favorable attitudes• Mixed subjective norms

Experiment with message cards

• The same randomly-selected sample that received the survey in Study 1: 2,409 households in the nine-town Connecticut River Estuary Region. •Dependent Variable: observed participation in a collection (yes, attended or no, did not attend) at the regional HHW facility • Independent Variable: treatment (message cards) comprised of four different conditions

Experiment

• Communications goal: to motivate single-family homeowners, segmented geographically by those living in the nine-town Connecticut River Estuary Region to participate in HHW collections at a regional facility.

• Treatment: Print messages addressed control beliefs, attitudinal beliefs and normative beliefs—constructs in the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Messages

ho, What, When, Where, Why?(Information – Perceived behavioral

control)

Favorable attitude – Separating HHW from the trash and bringing it to an HHW collection benefits the environment.

Subjective norm – People who matter to me think I should participate in an HHW collection at the facility.

Hypothesis… PBC + Attitudes + Norms =most effective in motivating behavior

Treatment: Four message cards

PBCPBC+Norms

PBC+Attitudes

PBC+Norms+Attitudes

Chi-Square Test for Independence

Condition Attendance at HHW Collections

Yes No Total

Controla 1,764 (8.7%) 18,344 (91.3%) 20,108

1 - PBC onlyb 89 (15.0%) 505 (85.0%) 594

2 - PBC + attitudesac 61 (10.4%) 528 (89.6%) 589

3 - PBC + normsbc 70 (11.7%) 528 (88.3%) 598

4 - PBC+ att + normsd 141 (22.5%) 487 (77.5%) 628

Totals 2,125 (9.4%) 22,801 (90.6%) 24,926

Note: Values outside parentheses indicate frequencies for each cell. Values inside parentheses indicate percentages for each cell. Conditions that do not share common superscripts indicate significantly different participation rates (p < .05).

Informational campaignsWho, What, When, Where, Why?

Necessary for participation Intended to build knowledge about the issue,

program, desired behavior Builds perceived behavioral control

Limited effectiveness Not necessarily motivational Does not cause behavior Creating supportive attitudes is not enough to

impact behavior (Knowledge + Attitudes ≠ Behavior)

Creating Motivational Messages

Normative appeals• Descriptive norms: involves perceptions of

behaviors typically performed

• Injunctive norms: perceptions of which behaviors are typically approved or disapproved

Descriptive + Injunctive = motivational

Normative influence

Perception:U.S. college students think other students consumed 5.60 drinks last time they “partied”/socialized.

Reality:3.58 is the mean number of drinks U.S. college students consumed the last time they “partied”/socialized

http://www.socialnorm.org/

Normative Appeals

“Help save the environment.”

“Partner with us to help save the environment.”

“Join your fellow citizens in helping to save the environment.”

(Cialdini, 2005)

• Have a clear program objective.• Consider applying the CBSM framework for your program.• Do it right! Start with a literature review + community

barrier research.• Consider using an empirically-strong behavioral theory in

formative research.• Tailor communications messages to your community• Remember that information is needed but not necessarily

motivational. Knowledge + Attitudes ≠ Behavior• Pilot-test and evaluate your program. Alter as necessary.

But wait, there’s more! For more info, contact: amy_cab@msn.com