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Environmental
Psychology
Research
Group
ToolSust
Public participation
and
Environmental Decision making
Birgitta Gatersleben, Leanne Tite and Charley Clark
University of Surrey
UK
Participation in environmental decision making
Controversial decision
Better decisions
Basic right
Avoid later problems
Pro-environmental behaviour
Goal setting
Commitment
Social dilemma paradigm
Visibility of behaviour
Trust in others
What is participation?
Different levels
Arnstein's (1969) eight-rung ladder of participation
Rowe & Frewer (2000)
referenda
public hearings
public opinion survey
negotiated rule making
consensus conference
citizens jury/panel
citizens advisory committee
focus groups
Evaluating participation (Rowe & Frewer, 2000)
ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA
PROCESS CRITERIA
Representativeness
Resource Accessibility
Independence
Task Definition
Early Involvement
Structure Decision Making
Influence
Cost-Effectiveness
Transparency
Evaluating a participation exercise
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 ?
Explaining 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 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 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 participation
Purchases
8
6
4
Focus group
No focus group
2
0
Before
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3 Week 4
Goal achievement
0
-0.5
-1
-1.5
-2
-2.5
-3
-3.5
-4
-4.5
Achieved
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Focus group
No focus group
Explaining change
Attitudes
Strong support for TPB
No changes in attitudes, PBC and Norms
Goal commitment
General support for goal and process
No differences between groups
No relationship between behaviour change and outcome
or process criteria
Conclusions
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?