Communications enhance sustainable intentions despite other ongoing crises

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Nguyen, N. T. H., Willcock, S. and Hassan, L. M. 2024. Communications enhance sustainable intentions despite other ongoing crises. Sustainability Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-024-01556-9

AuthorsNguyen, N. T. H., Willcock, S. and Hassan, L. M.
Abstract

There is an ongoing trend toward more frequent and multiple crises. While there is a clear need for behaviors to become more sustainable to address the climate crisis, how to achieve this against the backdrop of other crises is unknown. Using a sample of 18,805 participants from the UK, we performed a survey experiment to investigate if communication messages provide a useful tool in nudging intentions toward improved sustainability in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that, despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, media messaging resulted in increases in sustainability-related intentions for all our communication messaging conditions. Specifically, after our communication was presented, (i) almost 80% of people who were not currently recycling their surgical masks reported their intention to do so; there was a > 70% increase in both (ii) the number of people likely to pick up face mask litter and (iii) the number of people willing to disinfect and reuse their filtering facepiece (FFP) masks 4–6 times, while (iv) there was an increase by 165% in those who would wash cloth masks at 60 °C. Our results highlight that communication messaging can play a useful role in minimizing the trade-offs between multiple crises, as well as maximizing any synergies. To support this, decision-makers and practitioners should encourage the delivery of sustainability advice via multiple sources and across different types of media, while taking steps to address potential misinformation.

KeywordsBehavior change; COVID-19; Crisis; Mask wearing; Sustainability; Trade-off
Year of Publication2024
JournalSustainability Science
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-024-01556-9
Web address (URL)https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-024-01556-9
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderArts and Humanities Research Council
Natural Environment Research Council
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Funder project or codeResilient Farming Futures
AgZero+
Between environmental concerns and compliance
Publisher's version
Accepted author manuscript
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online14 Sep 2024
Publication process dates
Accepted05 Aug 2024
ISSN1862-4057
PublisherSpringer

Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/991w7/communications-enhance-sustainable-intentions-despite-other-ongoing-crises

15 total views
6 total downloads
8 views this month
4 downloads this month
Download files as zip