Promoting the transfer of pro-environmental behaviours between home and workplaces

The authors of this paper discussed research undertaken across two case study cities in the United Kingdom: York and Dundee. The researchers set out to investigate the effectiveness of PEB messaging for working people. They compared messaging prompts, motivating factors (helping oneself, helping others, or helping the natural world), and explored what motivated and supported people to transfer any adopted PEBs between home and the workplace.

Participants were asked about their personal actions and their knowledge of their employer’s PEB policies in the workplace. The authors gathered data through a variety of citizen science techniques, including interactive Venn diagrams, diaries and photo-message prompts. To analyze the data received, the researchers moved it through a categorization process which included information source, PEB theme (e.g. energy saving or recycling), and motivation.

The findings revealed that PEBs at home frequently translated into PEB activities in the workplace. They showed that, where resources, infrastructure and social pressures allow, if a behaviour is a norm in one context, it frequently transfers to another. The research also indicated that schemes such as employer’s offering discounted cycle purchasing encouraged PEBs, but this needed to be promoted as offering broad appeal and supported with safe cycling infrastructure to enhance take up.

The authors offered a note of caution, however, writing that workers felt skeptical about what motivated their employer to promote PEBs in the first instance: they generally perceived PEB messaging from employers to be motivated by economic or reputational concerns. An air of untrustworthiness around sources and content of PEB messaging could, unfortunately, inhibit the uptake and transfer of actions to other settings, revealed the authors.