Reasonable behaviour – complex stuff

8 January 2009

Story link:

http://www.agresearch.co.nz/socialresearch/biodiversity-about.aspx


Human beings are basically a reasoned lot. Yeah right.

Actually, give them enough of the right information, resources and encouragement and they are, according to AgResearch policy researcher Terry Parminter.

Parminter recently completed his PhD with Management Systems at Waikato University looking at the possible use of a social psychological theory of human behaviour when designing government policy.

He then led an applied research project to test how the results might be used in real life. He wanted to know if the theory of reasoned action stood up when applied to environmental issues and if so, could it then be included in environmental strategies and policy making.

Parminter's research was part of a $1 million project funded by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology involving representatives from Landcare Research, NIWA, AgResearch, Waikato and Queensland Universities, and three regional councils. The project was looking at people's willingness to participate in activities to enhance biodiversity, and focussed on three different regions – Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Wellington.

"People are complex," says Parminter, "they don't just make decisions based on incentives and disincentive, reward and cost. If you want to encourage people to change their behaviours there are also matters of habit to address, their social networks, self confidence and the interactions between all of these."

Parminter carried out a survey of more than 600 rural landowners to discover how they felt about retaining and/or developing bush on their properties. He found that a lot of their decision-making centred around having the confidence to make changes, how different practices fitted with their concepts of what "good farmers" would do, how new practices fitted with the habitual ways they had of doing things, what their friends and networks felt about environmental practices and what people similar to themselves were doing around them.

"It's a psychological model but I wanted to see if someone from a management background could use the theory when setting policy in central and local government, and in industry and organisational policy as well – basically anywhere there's voluntary component needed to encourage or bring about changes in behaviour."

Parminter says the research was a unique opportunity for policy agents, ecologists and social scientists to work together and it also showed ratepayers are willing to invest in biodiversity projects on private as well as public land, and that it's important to link biodiversity to the existing goals of landowners.

Terry Parminter will be 'on the road' in 2009 to talk to policy makers and strategists about the research findings.