Promoting Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing

Journal of Social Issues, Fall, 2000 by Doug McKenzie-Mohr

In Canada, community-based social marketing has emerged as an attractive alternative to information-intensive campaigns. This emergence can be traced to a growing understanding on the part of program planners that conventional campaigns, which rely heavily or exclusively on media advertising, can be effective in creating public awareness and improved understanding of issues but are limited in their ability to foster behavior change (Aronson & Gonzales, 1990; Costanzo et al., 1986; Yates & Aronson, 1983).

Community-Based Social Marketing

Community-based social marketing is composed of four steps: uncovering barriers to behaviors and then, based upon this information, selecting which behavior to promote; designing a program to overcome the barriers to the selected behavior; piloting the program; and then evaluating it once it is broadly implemented (McKenzie-Mohr & Smith, 1999). Community-based social marketing merges knowledge from psychology with expertise from social marketing (see also Geller, 1989). Social marketing emphasizes that effective program design begins with understanding the barriers people perceive to engaging in an activity (see, for example, Andreasen, 1995). Social marketing also underscores the importance of strategically delivering programs so that they target specific segments of the public and overcome the barriers to this segment's engaging in the behavior.

Uncovering Barriers and Selecting Behaviors

Reduction of the municipal solid waste stream can occur from a variety of activities, such as recycling, source reduction, or reuse. Similarly, lowering greenhouse gas emissions can be achieved by such actions as using alternative transportation (carpooling, bicycling, telecommuting) or lowering household energy use (upgrading insulation levels, installing low-flow showerheads, or closing blinds before leaving for work). Although it might be desirable to promote all of these behaviors, resources rarely exist to foster public participation in a wide range of activities. Consequently, it is necessary to make an informed decision regarding which behavior(s) to promote. With community-based social marketing, the decision regarding which behavior(s) to promote is based primarily upon the answer to three questions. First, what is the potential impact of the behavior? That is, what level of reduction in greenhouse gases are achievable, for example, through modal transportation shifts or the purchase of more-energy- efficient vehicles? Second, what barriers exist to engaging in these activities? In deciding which behavior to promote, it is important to know what the barriers are to broad public participation in the activity. In a limited number of cases, the psychological literature has already identified barriers (see, for example, McKenzie-Mohr, Nemiroff, Beers, & Desmarais, 1995; Schultz, Oskamp, & Mainieri, 1995), though frequently this information needs to be contextualized. For instance, in colder climates winter can be a significant barrier to year-round backyard composting, whereas weather may not be a consideration at all in other areas. In many cases, barriers have not been identified (see Stern & Oskamp, 1987, for a review of the environmental psychology literature), necessitating that preliminary research be conducted prior to deciding which behavior(s) to promote. In identifying barriers, social marketers often identify differences between individuals who engage in the activity and those who do not. Several research methods can be utilized to uncover these differences, including focus groups, observational studies, and survey research. Further, statistical techniques, such as discriminant analysis and logistic regression, can be particularly useful in identifying and prioritizing differences. For example, these techniques were used to distinguish householders who engage in backyard composting from those who did not (McKenzie-Mohr et al., 1995). This research revealed that in comparison to noncomposters, individuals who compost perceive reducing waste as being more important, and composting as less unpleasant, inconvenient, and time consuming.