Hi all,
The organization Rare recently hosted an interesting webinar titled “Social Influences”, which is about how organizations leverage social norms to change behavior in their conservation programs.
The webinar features case studies from four organizations: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Wildlife Conservation Society China, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, and Instituto de Conservação de Animais Silvestres (ICAS). One of the most interesting case studies was from Wildlife Conservation Society China. The speaker presented on reducing the consumption of pangolin scale- and Saiga horn-containing medicines. These are known as PSCM and SHCM, respectively. Consumer demand for pangolin scales and Saiga horns is not only leading to increased incidences of poaching and illegal trade, but also to a thriving legal market for these ingredients. The study focused on the legal market. The desired target behavior was for physicians in China to reduce the frequency with which they prescribe PSCM and SHCM, to protect endangered species. Through research and semi-structured interviews, the study team found that physicians were influenced by their peers, through formal and informal communication, to make prescriptions. As a result, the team decided that a key aspect of their intervention would be to inform physicians that their colleagues tend to prescribe medication without endangered animal ingredients. Thus, they were capitalizing on an existing social norm to influence physicians’ behavior. The idea was that once physicians recognized that their peers were not prescribing PSCM and SHCM, they would not do so either. One reason the project team was so confident was that physicians did not have a strong incentive to prescribe PSCM and SHCM. They were prescribing based on functionality, efficacy, safety, side effects, etc., so they could easily switch to alternative medicines. The team’s psychosocial theory of change was that once the physicians prescribed fewer medications containing PSCM and SHCM, the demand would decrease and lead to more stable populations of pangolin and Saiga antelope, as well as improved human well-being. The project team cooperated with the Chunyu platform, an online medical consultation platform used by over 660,000 physicians across China. They posted behaviorally informed messages to relevant physicians and put them into three groups: Control, Treatment 1, and Treatment 2. The Control group received no message. The Treatment 1 group received a message stating that pangolins and saiga antelope are endangered due to illegal hunting and that, to protect these animals, they should refuse medicines containing endangered animal ingredients. The Treatment 2 group received the social norm message, which let physicians know that 86.4% of physicians on the Chunyu platform preferred to use medicines that do not contain endangered animal ingredients.
Results? Physicians in the Treatment 1 and Treatment 2 groups were statistically significantly less likely to prescribe medicines containing PSCM and SHCM than the Control group. The Treatment 1 group was 5.5% less likely, and the Treatment 2 group, with the social norm message, was 6.6% less likely.
These results underscore that, in many settings, people alter their behavior to align with their peers. Additionally, this study made use of what we call a referent group. A referent group is a group within your community with which you strongly identify. In this case, the referent group was work colleagues (i.e., other physicians). You may wish to use friends, family, or neighbors as referent groups in your future initiatives.
To learn more about social norms, consider purchasing the fourth edition of Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr & Jennifer Tabanico’s book Fostering Sustainable Behavior here. To watch the webinar, click here.
The organization Rare recently hosted an interesting webinar titled “Social Influences”, which is about how organizations leverage social norms to change behavior in their conservation programs.
The webinar features case studies from four organizations: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Wildlife Conservation Society China, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, and Instituto de Conservação de Animais Silvestres (ICAS). One of the most interesting case studies was from Wildlife Conservation Society China. The speaker presented on reducing the consumption of pangolin scale- and Saiga horn-containing medicines. These are known as PSCM and SHCM, respectively. Consumer demand for pangolin scales and Saiga horns is not only leading to increased incidences of poaching and illegal trade, but also to a thriving legal market for these ingredients. The study focused on the legal market. The desired target behavior was for physicians in China to reduce the frequency with which they prescribe PSCM and SHCM, to protect endangered species. Through research and semi-structured interviews, the study team found that physicians were influenced by their peers, through formal and informal communication, to make prescriptions. As a result, the team decided that a key aspect of their intervention would be to inform physicians that their colleagues tend to prescribe medication without endangered animal ingredients. Thus, they were capitalizing on an existing social norm to influence physicians’ behavior. The idea was that once physicians recognized that their peers were not prescribing PSCM and SHCM, they would not do so either. One reason the project team was so confident was that physicians did not have a strong incentive to prescribe PSCM and SHCM. They were prescribing based on functionality, efficacy, safety, side effects, etc., so they could easily switch to alternative medicines. The team’s psychosocial theory of change was that once the physicians prescribed fewer medications containing PSCM and SHCM, the demand would decrease and lead to more stable populations of pangolin and Saiga antelope, as well as improved human well-being. The project team cooperated with the Chunyu platform, an online medical consultation platform used by over 660,000 physicians across China. They posted behaviorally informed messages to relevant physicians and put them into three groups: Control, Treatment 1, and Treatment 2. The Control group received no message. The Treatment 1 group received a message stating that pangolins and saiga antelope are endangered due to illegal hunting and that, to protect these animals, they should refuse medicines containing endangered animal ingredients. The Treatment 2 group received the social norm message, which let physicians know that 86.4% of physicians on the Chunyu platform preferred to use medicines that do not contain endangered animal ingredients.
Results? Physicians in the Treatment 1 and Treatment 2 groups were statistically significantly less likely to prescribe medicines containing PSCM and SHCM than the Control group. The Treatment 1 group was 5.5% less likely, and the Treatment 2 group, with the social norm message, was 6.6% less likely.
These results underscore that, in many settings, people alter their behavior to align with their peers. Additionally, this study made use of what we call a referent group. A referent group is a group within your community with which you strongly identify. In this case, the referent group was work colleagues (i.e., other physicians). You may wish to use friends, family, or neighbors as referent groups in your future initiatives.
To learn more about social norms, consider purchasing the fourth edition of Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr & Jennifer Tabanico’s book Fostering Sustainable Behavior here. To watch the webinar, click here.
