Affordances, constraints and information flows as ‘leverage points’ in design for sustainable behaviour

Copyright @ 2012 Social Science Electronic PublishingTwo of Donella Meadows' 'leverage points' for intervening in systems (1999) seem particularly pertinent to design for sustainable behaviour, in the sense that designers may have the scope to implement them in (re-)designing everyday products and services. The 'rules of the system' -- interpreted here to refer to affordances and constraints -- and the structure of information flows both offer a range of opportunities for design interventions to in fluence behaviour change, and in this paper, some of the implications and possibilities are discussed with reference to parallel concepts from within design, HCI and relevant areas of psychology

Reverse logistics symbiosis in waste recycling : investigating municipal systems and household behaviour in England

Municipality Solid Waste management services are reverse logistics (RL) operations of significant scale and importance throughout the developed world, and yet the topic has only received limited attention within the logistics and supply-chain management literature, despite an increasing policy focus on sustainability issues. An interdisciplinary approach was chosen for this study to explore the interaction between municipality household recycling waste systems and household recycling behaviour, which is represented by situational and personal factors in this study. A mixed methodology approach was used, based on a Sequential Exploratory Design that uses a mixed method typology (Qual-Quan-Qual) to explore the proposition that there is a symbiosis effect between the recycling behaviour of households and municipality household recycling waste systems. A non-probability sampling was drawn from the population of two adjacent councils in Northern England: the East Riding of Yorkshire and the City of Hull. The three stages of the research design show a consistent and similar outcome for the interaction between households and household recycling waste systems, represented by personal and situational factors respectively. The interaction clearly demonstrates a symbiosic effect between households and household recycling waste systems. The nature of household recycling behaviour was found to be affected by accessibility, availability and convenience, and where these diminish, the personal engagement of households in recycling is likely to diminish. Logistical factors, such as accessibility and availability are therefore considered to be strong predictors in the projection of household recycling behaviour, together with marketing factors, such as engagement and education. In addition, demographical elements are considered as moderating factors in the projection of household recycling behaviour. Moreover personal factors are found to be equally strong predictors when the situational factors are established and formed in accordance with the residential requirement. A robust theoretical framework has been developed during this study, which may be accessible for future studies, incorporating the relationship between situational and personal factors, and focusing primarily on the interaction between the respective factors. However, the conceptualization of the symbiosis effect requires further investigation and replication to clarify and understand the interaction in different scopes and perceptions. With regards to the methodological implication, this study supports earlier logistic literature by diversifying the research approach in its contribution to the literature. Thus, the application of mixed methodology addresses the incongruities between mono-paradigm in relation to recycling and waste literature, and reveals some clarity on the underpinning factors that explain behavioural changes in household recycling performance. As for the practical implications, in order to increase recycling performance, the mediating factors such as engagement and education are important contributions from this study with respect to changing HRB. The study also reveals that accessibility, availability and convenience are important precursors. Therefore, it was useful to design a sustainable reverse logistics system in waste management by considering the precursory factors to appropriate engagement that represents the public needs The outcome of this study indicates that the nexus between HRWS and HRB has to be focused on their symbiotic relationship, and looks at current HRWM from a symbiosis perspective. The caveat may be for policymakers and local authorities to come up with a sustainable backward movement that addresses ‘awareness, acknowledgement and action’ from the households’ perspective

HOUSEHOLD RECYCLING BEHAVIOUR: A BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE

Environmental issues put short-term economic gratification in direct conflict with long-term survival of the planet: they are no longer considered ‘distant’. There is a causal link between the disposal and treatment of waste and global environmental problems. Recycling is one of the most effective remedies to the problem of waste. There is evidence of an intention-action gap in household recycling behavior. The psychological nature of the decision to recycle is the most likely explanation for this intention-action gap. The present dissertation combines behavioral economics and psychology of incentives. It studies the cognitive processes underlying the recycling intention-action gap and offers a theoretical framework to design effective nudges. The work consists of three sequential articles: the first two articles include a lab experiment, the third runs a computer simulation. Article 1 considers a semantic stimulus and tests the priming effect on recycling behavior of two stereotypes: the environmentalist and the conscientious citizen. Article 2 considers a contextual (conceptual plus visual) stimulus and tests the priming effect of two induced feelings: spirituality and nature. Article 3 develops an agent-based model to assess the effects of the major findings of Article 1 and 2 on the system as a whole

Developing Integrated Waste Management Systems: Information Needs and the Role of Locally Based Data

No abstract available

A system dynamics approach for enhancing social behaviours regarding the reuse of packaging

There have been many attempts to reduce the amount of waste packaging through open dumping and burning, recycling, landfill, incineration, etc. However, there has been little attention paid to reuse as the simplest way to reduce waste. In order to motivate consumers to perform reuse behaviour, it is essential to understand how this behaviour can be influenced and what variables predict it. This paper aims to study the effectiveness of improving social aspects of reuse behaviour and investigate the variables that lead to increased reuse behaviour in a short time period. This paper selects a quantitative approach, the System Dynamics (SD) method, which offers a means by which to highlight the dynamics and interrelationships among the different social aspects in reuse behaviour. Different social aspects are extracted from Cognitive Behaviour Theory (CBT) as a basis with the Theory of Planning Behaviour (TOPB). The authors develop a Social Behaviour Aspect Model (SBAM) with three predictors: information values, awareness-changing variables and behavioural adaptation variables. The paper demonstrates its utility with a report on a recent empirical study that has used the model to provide important new findings about different social aspects to enhance reuse behaviour. These findings have clear implications for the packaging industry who intend to enhance reuse behaviour amongst consumers, encouraging them to take corrective and preventive actions at an early stage

Children, parents and home energy use: Exploring motivations and limits to energy demand reduction

While almost 30% of UK households include children, little research has attempted to present children's perspectives on home energy use. This study used focus groups with children and parents at two primary (elementary) schools in London, UK, to explore home energy use and energy feedback. Energy was found to be a little-discussed subject at home. Children derived more motivation to save energy from responsibility conferred by school activities than other (e.g. environmental) concerns, and some connected energy saving with dangers of using electricity (e.g. fire). Material and social constraints (e.g. access to outside space, parents' environmental attitudes) meant that it was sometimes difficult for children to save energy even when motivated. However, parents showed greater inclination to pay attention to energy saving when framed as supporting their child's learning than as a financial or environmental concern. Children were disinclined to reduce energy-consuming activities such as watching television, and while parents complained about children's energy use most saw it as a low priority issue. Policy implications of these findings are considered, and the approach employed is argued to be an effective way of investigating children's perceptions around energy use

Psychological and demographic factors affecting household energy-saving intentions: A TPB-based study in northwest China

Changing energy consumption behavior is a promising strategy to enhance household energy efficiency and to reduce carbon emission. Understanding the role of psychological and demographic factors in the context of energy-conservation behaviors is critical to promote energy-saving behaviors in buildings. This study first proposes a theoretical framework built on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Based on the collected survey data from 207 families (553 residents) in three communities in Xi’an, a typical city in northwest China, the research examines how three standard TPB predictors, namely attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, as well as their interactive effects and three socio-demographic factors (i.e., house ownership, education and household income) influence building occupants’ energy-saving intention at home. Through structural equation modeling and keyword analysis, this study reveals that two interaction terms, namely attitude and subjective norms, as well as attitude and perceived behavior control, significantly influence building occupants’ energy-saving intention. Furthermore, this study implies that household income may positively associate with occupants’ energy-saving intention. The model in this study would be conducive to architects and property managers to mitigate severe building energy overuse problem in design and operation stages. Based on a qualitative analysis, the study then discusses the limitations of the study and further research direction. The results of this study would be conducive to building designers and operators to develop customized architectural or informatic interventions and to mitigate the severe energy overuse problem in the residential sector in northwest China.</jats:p

Organic food purchase behavior: The complex relationship between consumer\u2019s attitude and social norms.

During the last decade the purchase of green food within a sustainable consumption context has gained momentum. In particular, consumers\u2019 preference toward organic food represents a form of behavior that can both promote the preservation of the environment and contribute to the transition to a more sustainable society. Certainly, the choice for a specific type of food is based on personal beliefs, but it is also influenced by the social dimension. In relation to this latter aspect, a current issue regarding the understanding and prediction of green consumer behavior is strongly related with the investigation of the effect exercised by group norms and collective consumption (Peattie, 2010). In line with this premise, the Doctoral project aimed to investigate the emergence of sustainable consumption behaviors by considering both the individual and social aspects. Specifically, the project examined the complex relationship that emerges from the dynamic interaction of individual behaviors and social norms in the specific context of organic food choice. Since systematic experimentation over time with social influence is difficult, the research employed virtual simulations: to this purpose, an interdisciplinary approach between psychological methods and computer sciences was adopted. The first phase of the Doctoral project examined those psychological theories able to explain and predict consumers\u2019 intention to buy organic food products. Accordingly, the work by Scalco, Noventa, Sartori and Ceschi (2017) showed by means of a meta-analytical structural equation model the robustness of the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) in this specific context. Therefore, the TPB was assumed as the main theoretical framework of the project. The second phase addressed the potential conjunctions between psychological notions and computer simulations. Particularly, agent-based modeling represents a method of investigation of social phenomena that blends the knowledge of social sciences with the advantages of virtual simulations. Within this context, the development of algorithms able to emulate a realistic reasoning process for autonomous virtual agents is one of the most fragile aspects. The paper by Scalco, Ceschi, and Sartori (2017) specifically dealt with the translation of the theory of planned behavior into a computational form: several issues are discussed and some solutions are offered when available with the hope to shorten the distance between psychological research and the methods provided by computer sciences. Finally, starting from the findings provided by the first work and the theoretical examination conducted in the second paper, an agent-based model was built to investigate how social interactions in relation to organic food products can foster/hinder individual buying behavior among customers of grocery stores with different food arrangements. Virtual consumers in the simulation replicate a decision-making process grounded on the theory of planned behavior: each agent decides to buy conventional/green food on the base of its individual preferences and the social influence exercised by others. The agent-based model showed the effects of social influence on individual behavior: a part of the agents would like to buy green products following their individual preferences, however, the common norm hampers this intention. Consequently, these agents decide to buy regular food instead of green one triggering in this way a locked-in vicious cycle. More interesting, the simulation demonstrated that different arrangements of products can significantly affect the sales of organic food: nonetheless, the increase of sales of organic food also depends on the throng of customers inside the store. In the end, the research improves the understanding regarding the effects of social norms on individual intention to purchase green food. In addition, it attempts to suggest how to foster organic food purchase starting from the results obtained from the simulation. As a further consideration, the Doctoral thesis tried to demonstrate the advantages of the introduction of agent-based modeling as a valuable method for psychological research in relation to the investigation of social phenomena and consumer behavior