PREMIER
I am interested in and passionate about waste reduction; specifically, reuse and repair. At the University of Waterloo, I co-organized repair workshops, where the community could learn how to fix their clothes, jewellery, and electronics, among other things. In terms of my research, I'm interested in the factors that lead to success and failure in behaviour change programs, as well as external influences on human behaviour (e.g. social structures, choice architecture, etc). If you have similar interests, please reach out!
Resume & Projects
I am currently working on two papers related to external influences in social marketing programs.
197 Comments
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Re: Curbside 'gold star'/'good job' Campaign
2024-04-25 14:04:34 UTC
Hi Tamara,
Wonderful! It sounds like you still need to set some behavioural objectives and intended environmental outcomes in order to be able to measure effectiveness. Best wishes with all of that, it sounds like an amazing project. -
Re: Curbside 'gold star'/'good job' Campaign
2024-04-24 18:26:16 UTC
Hi Tamara,
I love the sticker idea. Feedback is helpful, both positive and negative. It sounds like when residents have not sorted correctly, you are gently nudging them to let them know that, which is great. Waste auditing will definitely yield useful data, though I'm wondering if you are also checking for barriers and benefits (CBSM step #2)? That is, when residents are not sorting correctly, will you know why? It will be interesting to see if anyone else has implemented this type of campaign, and what the results were from that. -
Re: Changing social norms around native plants in your area
2024-04-23 18:52:50 UTC
Hi Keri,
This is fantastic. I'm not sure that folks managing behaviour change programs always think of equity issues, so that is so good to hear. Apartment dwellers is another demographic that may be overlooked. It sounds like your program is doing as much as possible to remove barriers to participation. Love this! -
Re: Changing social norms around native plants in your area
2024-04-23 14:23:21 UTC
Hi Virginia,
These campaigns are really impressive. The native plant guides that you have developed are very high quality and useful, I'm sure, to so many gardeners. It is great to see that you are encouraging commitments via pledges and giveaways like those beautiful decals. And I have no doubt that the public-private partnership will go a long way to encouraging more native plant purchases. There seems to be so much latent demand for this that you are tapping into -- it's exciting! -
Re: Changing social norms around native plants in your area
2024-04-22 20:18:18 UTC
Hi Keri,
Thank you for sharing information about this program. I found the "Interconnected Properties" map most interesting, showing that if enough people grow native plants, it can have a positive impact by building wildlife corridors. It is good to see all of the CBSM tools they are using, too. -
Home energy reports that are actually interesting
2024-04-22 12:50:47 UTC
Hi all,You may have heard of Opower, an American company that provides a customer engagement platform for utilities. They were acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2016. Anyway, Opower uses cutting edge designs and behavioural science techniques to engage customers in reducing their electricity usage. I’ve come across one of their latest home energy reports, which sounds very boring but isn’t at all.
As customers become more aware of the impacts that climate change has on their lives, they are looking for ways to do their part. One of those ways is to reduce energy consumption at home. Opower’s home energy report shows them how to do just that, in a way that is clear and compelling. These reports are not too wordy, feature eye-catching infographics, and focus on only the most important information that a customer will want to know. One interesting feature is that Opower is moving away from focusing on direct comparisons of a customer’s energy use to similar homes in their neighbourhood. Though that is demonstrated in the report, the focus is on a target zone that the customer can work toward. In essence, they are using goal setting to motivate customers in addition to social norms.Further, on the back of the report, Opower has included a QR code so that customers can complete a home energy assessment in five minutes or less. Since most people now have smart phones, this is a simple and convenient way for them to complete the assessment. There is no barrier of logging in, which according to the company, has increased engagement by 5x.I’ve presented a few highlights here but there are more features to the reports, which are on Opower’s website. If you’d like to explore their work, click here. -
Invasive species and the effectiveness of public awareness campaigns
2024-04-22 12:46:16 UTC
Hi all,Public awareness campaigns are often applied to mitigate the negative impacts that invasive species have on healthy ecosystems. However, there is little evidence suggesting that these campaigns are effective with respect to environmental outcomes. A literature review from Cambridge University researchers was conducted recently to assess the efficacy of 24 public awareness campaigns in managing invasive species. Four of them were deemed a success and the others were indeterminable due to the way the studies were designed. One of the main problems in determining success of these campaigns was that nearly all of the program managers (23 of them) measured only changes in knowledge and behaviour, and not relevant biological outcomes (i.e. a change in the biological mass of the invasive species). Another problem relates to the assumption that changes in knowledge will translate to changes in behaviour. The article’s authors focus on three case studies to illustrate these points. I will describe one of them below.An educational comic to assess gardeners’ knowledge and intentions re: invasive plant species in AustraliaResearchers in Australia distributed a survey to gardeners in two forms: one with an educational comic that warned about invasive plants escaping from gardens (treatment group) and another survey that did not include the comic (control group). Although the comic had a positive influence on self-reported intentions (e.g. respondents saying they would be more likely to purchase native plants over non-native plants in the future), it was also found that those same respondents didn’t see how their gardening behaviours could impact the environment. When shown the statement ‘My garden choices do not affect the environment’, one third of those who received the comic still agreed. According to the researchers, “even among individuals who were conscious of the impacts of invasive species and supportive of control efforts (i.e. those we would expect to know the most), there was a lack of understanding regarding how invasive plants spread and how people’s choices can impact this spread.”Public awareness campaigns are frequently applied by governments and academics to address a range of environmental issues. These types of campaigns can impact attitudes and implementation intentions, but there is little evidence to suggest that they positively impact behaviour, let alone influencing an environmental outcome like the reduction of biomass in a particular invasive species. This is especially true with the problem of invasive species, where the knowledge needed is complex and the desired behaviours are diverse (e.g. from purchasing native plants to washing boat propellors). The only way a public awareness campaign will be successful at changing behaviour is when knowledge is the only significant barrier preventing people from taking action. Usually this is not the case.
There are other invasive species case studies from the U.S. and Canada in the research study that you might find interesting. To read the full open access article, click here. -
How a little city in Sicily became a zero waste giant
2024-04-22 12:39:39 UTC
Hi all,There is a city in Sicily called Calatafimi Segesta that, although small, has made tremendous strides in the past two decades toward achieving zero waste while at the same time actively engaging its citizens.The story begins in 2003, when the governor of Sicily at the time proposed to build four incinerators on the island, hoping that that would solve their municipal solid waste problem. There was strong pushback from local citizen groups and environmental activists, who were very concerned about the health and environmental impacts of burning waste. Due to the controversy surrounding the project, the four incinerators were never built. This was a victory for civil society and demonstrated the importance of active citizen participation in the implementation of environmental policies and projects.Eight years later, in 2011, municipal councillors unanimously voted to become a Zero Waste City. That public commitment, and the ambitious goal contained within it, set the city on a path toward sustainability with respect to waste management. Since then, Calatafimi Segesta has engaged in a number of zero waste initiatives.Here are some examples:- Door-to-door collection service for all households and businesses in the city centre- A free, on-call collection system for special items (e.g. bulky items, e-waste, and garden trimmings)- A financial deduction for households who compost- The creation of a Reuse Centre in 2023 that recycles textile waste, among other items- A new municipal site, open to the public, that collects a wider range of waste items- A “plastic eating machine” in the city that is a compactor for plastic bottles
The city’s mayor is very clear about the benefits of these initiatives. He mentions that the compost generated by the city is beneficial for agricultural purposes, the recovery of materials is useful due to raw material scarcity, and the opening of the reuse centre has created new jobs, which is good for the local economy.The results? Since the municipality made its commitment in 2011 to be a Zero Waste City, Calatifimi Segesta has doubled the amount of materials it collects for recycling and reuse, and it has reduced its volume of waste by two-thirds.In addition to the obvious benefits mentioned above, and the ambitious initiatives undertaken by the city, it appears that one of the key ingredients to success in this case is that the citizens of Calatifimi Segesta are both aware of and enthusiastically involved in waste management initiatives. In short, social cohesion and inclusion go a long way when it comes to promoting sustainable behaviour.
To read the full story of this little zero waste giant and others like it, visit the zerowastecities.eu website here. -
What are the predictors of success in social marketing programs?
2024-04-15 13:26:59 UTC
Hi all,There are many ways that social marketing programs are designed and implemented, which makes it difficult to know what aspects of those programs lead to success in terms of influencing behaviour to solve a social or environmental problem.We have benchmark criteria from social marketing leaders that tell us what elements are required in order for a campaign to be considered social marketing (e.g. behaviour change, priority group research, value exchange, etc). To my knowledge, there is only one study that has been done that identifies which elements are statistically proven to be predictors of success in social marketing programs. It was a two-part mixed methods study that was done as part of a PhD dissertation, published in 2013 by Audrey Robinson-Maynard.The study identified 19 benchmark criteria (independent variables) and measured 100 social marketing campaigns against those criteria, categorizing each one as successful, partially successful, or not successful (dependent variables). The results revealed four elements that were statistically significant in terms of predicting success in social marketing programs.They are the following:- Piloting- Clear benefits- Sustainable support- Understanding conceptsOf the four benchmark criteria, piloting was found to have the highest level of statistical significance. This makes sense, as it is at the piloting stage that biased or flawed assumptions come to light and can be corrected before full-scale implementation. You may recall that piloting is the fourth step in Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr’s CBSM five-step framework. Clear benefits are also unsurprising and dovetail with the second step in the CBSM framework, identifying barriers and benefits. It is important for people to clearly see the benefits of a particular behaviour, and to see that those benefits outweigh the costs or barriers associated with the behaviour. Sustainable support refers to the need for the priority group to have a long-term, sustainable source of social, emotional, and resource supports in place during and after a social marketing program. The short-term, ‘ad hoc’ nature of many social marketing programs means that desired behaviours are not adequately supported and therefore may not be maintained past the program end date. This finding corresponds with my own PhD dissertation research on success and failure factors in social marketing, which found that ‘ad hoc’ approaches to programs are a key factor in the failure of social marketing programs. And finally, understanding concepts is also critical to success. This essentially means that the social marketer fully understands the priority group, the problem that they are faced with, and the competing environment. The implication here is that thorough research at the outset of a social marketing program could ensure that this criterion is met.If you would like to see more details on Robinson-Maynard’s study, please click on the following link (Note: her PhD dissertation is 250 pages long, so you may want to read it on your browser as opposed to downloading it). If you would like more information on common mistakes and failures in social marketing programs, you can read the entire two-part study from my PhD dissertation here, or just check out the second part of the study, which was published in Social Marketing Quarterly in 2021. That paper is attached. -
Climate smart choices: Shifting traveller behaviour from planes to trains
2024-04-15 13:18:09 UTC
Hi all,I’m sure most of you are aware that changing flying behaviour is important for reaching global climate goals, and that one way to do that is to substitute flights with train travel. What you may not know (I didn’t) is that taking the same trip by train instead of by plane reduces CO2 emissions by 80-90%. That’s a significant decrease. I came across this statistic in a 2020 Transport and Research journal article that explains some of the most effective ways to shift people’s travel choices from high-carbon planes to low-carbon trains.According to the article, the best ways to make this shift are to raise the price of air travel and change social norms. With respect to the price of air travel, a significant portion of growth in air travel demand over the past couple of decades has been low-cost airlines. Carbon taxes on flight tickets could curb that demand, incentivizing travellers to choose lower cost options like train travel. When it comes to social norms, there appears to be some momentum around the “flying shame” movement in Europe. For example, the #flygskam social media tag has correlated with decreased flight passenger numbers in Sweden since 2017. Although it sounds negative, there is actually an emphasis within this movement on the joy of slow travel. Celebrities like Swedish singer Staffan Lindberg, biathlete Bjorn Ferry, and opera singer Malena Ernman—Greta Thunberg’s mom—have all joined in.Of course, besides incentives/disincentives and social norms, there are other considerations that add to the complexity of shifting traveller behaviour. Travel time, flexibility, comfort, and safety are all factors that travellers think about when determining a preferred mode of travel. For air travellers, time sensitivity and comfort are of utmost importance. For those who choose train travel, cost, familiarity, and environmental sensitivity tend to be priorities. As you may know from your CBSM training, any behaviour change campaign aiming to shift travel modes in this way would need to examine benefits and barriers of these different demographics first before determining the best strategy.To learn more about how to encourage modal shifts from planes to trains, you can read the open access full article here.
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Special Issue Call for Papers – Adverse Results of Social Marketing Initiatives and Lessons Learned
2019-07-21 18:53:00 UTC
We’re bringing the skeletons out of the file drawer. SMQ is recruiting research articles, conceptual pieces and case studies on social marketing attempts that fell short in achieving stakeholder expectations. There is so much that we can learn from these initiatives—perhaps more than from our successes. In studying such experiences, our special issue contributes to contemporary thinking on publication bias in social marketing and beyond. DEADLINE: Manuscripts must be submitted by April 30, 2020. Manuscripts submitted earlier will be processed immediately and published online upon acceptance. Please contact [email protected] with any questions. https://journals.sagepub.com/home/smq
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