Public participation Public participation and and

Environmental Decision makingEnvironmental Decision making

Birgitta Gatersleben, Leanne Tite and Charley ClarkUniversity of Surrey

UK

ToolSust

EnvironmentalPsychologyResearchGroup

Participation in environmental decision makingParticipation in environmental decision makingControversial decision

Better decisionsBasic right Avoid later problems

Pro-environmental behaviourGoal setting Commitment

Social dilemma paradigmVisibility of behaviourTrust in others

What is participation?What is participation?

Different levels

Arnstein's (1969) eight-rung ladder of participation

Rowe & Frewer (2000) referendapublic hearingspublic opinion surveynegotiated rule makingconsensus conferencecitizens jury/panelcitizens advisory committeefocus groups

Evaluating participation (Rowe & Frewer, 2000) ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA PROCESS CRITERIA

Representativeness Independence Early Involvement Influence Transparency

Resource Accessibility Task Definition Structure Decision Making Cost-Effectiveness

Research Questions

•Does the purchase of organic, local, ecological/recycled produce increase over the course of the initiative, in both the short-term and the long-term?

•Is there any difference between the participation groups in the increase in the purchase of organic, ecological/recycled and local produce, in both the short-term and the long-term ?

Evaluating a participation exerciseEvaluating a participation exercise

Explaining changes in behaviourExplaining changes in behaviour

•To what extent are behaviour changes due to attitude changes?

•Are there any changes in attitudes?•Are these changes related to behaviour changes?

•To what extent are behaviour changes related to goal commitment?

•How did people in the focus group evaluate the process and outcomes of the participation exercise?•How did other participants evaluate the information they were given?•Are these evaluations related to behaviour changes?

Study designStudy design

Group 1: No consultation (n = 20/13)Householder receive goals set by Group 2

Group 2: Participation (n = 29/15)Householders and stakeholder agree on goal

Respondents report their targets and purchases every two weeks for 8 weeks

Before and after experiment TPB survey

Eco purchasesEco purchases

Survey: 7 products (yes/no): potatoes, meat, toilet paper, washing up liquid, washing powder, apples, milk

Experiment: 24 products + 2 other (% in two weeks)

Target set: 25% increase

Eco purchases before and after participationEco purchases before and after participation

Purchases

0

2

4

6

8

Before Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Focus groupNo focus group

Goal achievementGoal achievement

Achieved

-4.5-4

-3.5-3

-2.5-2

-1.5-1

-0.50

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Focus groupNo focus group

Explaining changeExplaining change

Attitudes

Strong support for TPBNo changes in attitudes, PBC and Norms

Goal commitment

General support for goal and processNo differences between groupsNo relationship between behaviour change and outcome or process criteria

ConclusionsConclusions

Participants and response rate

Possible to increase purchase of ecological products by goal setting

No long term effect

No relationship attitudes and commitment

Value of participation?