Sam H Ham Terry J Brown Jim Curtis Betty Weiler Michael Hughes Mark Poll - Sustainable Tourism CRC Project SR6c: Strategic Communication and ...
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Sam H Ham
Terry J Brown
Jim Curtis
Betty Weiler
Michael Hughes
Mark Poll
Sustainable Tourism CRC
Project SR6c: Strategic Communication and
Visitor Behaviour Sub-Project
Promoting Persuasion in Protected Areas DISCLAIMER The views contained in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC). While the authors have made all reasonable efforts to gather the most current and appropriate information, the STCRC does not make any warranty as to the correctness, completeness or suitability of the information, and shall in no event be liable for any loss or damage that you may suffer as a result of your reliance on this information. COPYRIGHT © CRC FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM PTY LTD 2007 All rights reserved. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the publisher. Any enquiries should be directed to Brad Cox, Communications Manager [brad@crctourism. com.au] or Trish O’Connor, Publishing Manager [trish@crctourism.com.au]. ii
CONTENTS
PREFACE ....................................................................................................................................................v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................................vi
INTRODUCTION TO PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION THEORY ........................................................... 1
Theory of planned behaviour (TPB) ...................................................................................................... 2
Behavioural beliefs .......................................................................................................................... 3
Normative beliefs ............................................................................................................................. 3
Control beliefs .................................................................................................................................. 4
Measure, don’t guess ............................................................................................................................ 5
TPB summary ........................................................................................................................................ 5
Elaboration likelihood model (ELM) ....................................................................................................... 6
Combining the TPB and ELM ................................................................................................................ 6
Where’s all this going? A look ahead ..................................................................................................... 8
STEP 1: IDENTIFYING PROBLEM BEHAVIOURS ................................................................................... 9
Behaviours this manual can’t help you with........................................................................................... 9
Behaviours this manual can help you with .......................................................................................... 10
Identification of visitor-induced problems....................................................................................... 10
What is the specific visitor behaviour associated with the
management problem? ............................................................................................................ 10
Where does the problem behaviour occur? ..............................................................................11
Who’s performing the behaviour? .............................................................................................11
Is the behaviour regular? ..........................................................................................................11
Is the behaviour easily observable? .........................................................................................11
What behaviour do you want visitors to engage in? .................................................................11
STEP 2: THE ELICITATION STUDY—UNDERSTANDING VISITOR BELIEFS
ABOUT THE DESIRED BEHAVIOUR ...................................................................................................... 13
Behavioural belief questions................................................................................................................ 14
Normative belief questions .................................................................................................................. 14
Control belief questions ....................................................................................................................... 14
Organise your results and prepare to make decisions ........................................................................ 14
Group and label the salient beliefs according to shared meanings ............................................... 16
Avoid redundancy from the same visitor........................................................................................ 16
Make sure your grouped beliefs are reliable ................................................................................. 16
Identifying beliefs for further measurement ......................................................................................... 17
Recap ................................................................................................................................................. 19
iii
Promoting Persuasion in Protected Areas
STEP 3: IDENTIFYING BELIEFS TO TARGET WITH PERSUASIVE
COMMUNICATION ................................................................................................................................... 21
Developing a TPB questionnaire ......................................................................................................... 22
Field Methods ...................................................................................................................................... 22
Who should hand out the questionnaires? ....................................................................................... 22
Which visitors should I ask to complete a questionnaire? ................................................................ 23
Coding and making sense of your results ........................................................................................... 23
An abbreviated example ...................................................................................................................... 26
Recap .................................................................................................................................................28
A more complete example—Isolating beliefs to target with
persuasive messages .......................................................................................................................... 28
Collect separate random samples from compliers and non-compliers ............................................ 28
Calculate mean cross-products for each belief ................................................................................ 28
Compare compliers with non-compliers and decide on target beliefs .............................................. 29
Pinpoint your message by looking at both parts of each belief ........................................................ 29
STEP 4: DEVELOPING YOUR PERSUASIVE
COMMUNICATION MESSAGES .............................................................................................................. 31
Targeted beliefs and the desired behaviour are the
message foundations .......................................................................................................................... 31
Elaboration is the ideal ........................................................................................................................ 31
Encouraging visitors to elaborate ........................................................................................................ 32
Making messages easy to process .................................................................................................. 32
Making messages relevant ............................................................................................................... 32
Appealing to a personal norm ........................................................................................................ 32
Appealing to a subjective norm...................................................................................................... 32
Provocative titles attract interest and encourage thought.................................................................... 33
Final design and delivery of your messages ....................................................................................... 33
STEP 5: IMPLEMENTATION, EVALUATION AND
ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................................................... 35
Tips for implementing a persuasive communication intervention ........................................................ 36
Tips for monitoring outcomes .............................................................................................................. 36
Tips for making changes...................................................................................................................... 36
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................... 39
APPENDIX A: SAMPLE ELICITATION INTERVIEW ............................................................................... 41
APPENDIX B: EXAMPLE OF PRELIMINARY ELICITATION STUDY RESULTS.................................... 45
APPENDIX C: SAMPLE BELIEF MEASUREMENT QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................. 53
APPENDIX D: SAMPLE PROCEDURES FOR APPROACHING NON-COMPLIERS ............................. 57
APPENDIX E: RATIONALE FOR CODING SCHEMES ........................................................................... 59
iv
Promoting Persuasion in Protected Areas
PREFACE
The purpose of Promoting Persuasion in Protected a theoretical basis or research foundation. On the
Areas is to help protected area (PA) managers contrary, the methods are modelled from lessons
make better decisions and to achieve greater learned in literally hundreds of published studies. If
success in their use of communication to influence you would like to know more about these studies or
visitor behaviour. Visitation to protected areas has the theories they’re based on, we encourage you to
increased steadily in recent decades, and among contact one of us or access some of the selected
these visitors is a special subset of individuals works listed in the bibliography.
who engage in behaviours that are at odds with
The intended audience for the manual is protected
management objectives. Yet many of their most
area managers and staff with responsibility for
problematic behaviours are the product of naiveté
visitor interpretation and who have a strong interest
or misconception rather than malicious intent. PA
in communication research and theory. The manual
managers have long considered interpretation an
has been designed to accompany Professional
effective and appropriate strategy for dealing with
Development Workshops (PDWs) that will explain
these kinds of problems, but success in using it to
and demonstrate the described procedures.
influence visitor behaviour has been mixed.
Our main goal at each one-day PDW will be to show
One of the challenges commonly faced by PA
participants how they can achieve greater success
managers is that they’ve not been given tools or
in their use of communication to influence visitor
guidelines for analysing visitor behaviour or about
behaviour. We’ll briefly consider the cornerstones
making decisions with respect to communication
of the theory of planned behaviour. This well-
approaches that would be best suited to influence
established theory will draw our attention to the
it. However, recent advances in communication
kinds of information we actually need to have in
theory and research tell us that if we understand
order to be more effective in communication
what visitors think about a given behaviour, we’ll
programs. From there, we’ll spend the rest of the
have a better chance of influencing them to adjust
day practicing a basic methodology for collecting
their actions in line with management goals. Our
this information and using it to make good decisions
primary aim in this manual is to help you see visitor
about message content and communication
behaviour through the eyes of substantiated theory
strategy. Participants will leave the PDW feeling
and to make better strategic decisions as you
current in their understanding of the persuasive
develop and deliver messages aimed at influencing
communication process and confident in their ability
visitors to behave in particular ways.
to apply what they’ve learned in the protected areas
Some of the methods described in this manual they manage. The manual will serve as a reminder
have been published elsewhere, though mostly in of the workshop demonstrations and provide a
academic publications and technical documents. valuable reference for future use.
The most prominent works are by Professor Icek
We hope you find the advice contained in these
Ajzen at the University of Massachusetts (USA)
pages both relevant and useful in your work, and
who originated the theory of planned behaviour that
above all, that it contributes to better management
forms the basis of our approach in this manual. We
of protected resources and to the enhancement of
have listed some of these works in our bibliography.
visitor experiences.
However, this manual distinguishes itself from
previous publications by adopting an applied ‘how- Sam H Ham
to’ approach, using non-technical language and Terry J Brown
avoiding where possible academic citations that Jim Curtis
might interrupt the flow of ideas for an applied reader Betty Weiler
uninterested in such documentation. This does not Michael Hughes
mean, however, that the methods we outline lack Mark Poll
v
Promoting Persuasion in Protected Areas
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Preparation and publication of this manual would Authors and research team:
not have been possible without funding from the
Professor Sam Ham (Project Manager)
Sustainable Tourism CRC. Since its inception,
Monash University, Deputy Director, & Adjunct
the STCRC has been a world leader in producing
Professor
industry-relevant knowledge and research products.
Tourism Research Unit
We’re pleased that this manual is one of them.
Phone: 03 9904 7224, Fax: 03 9904 7225
We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation and sam.ham@buseco.monash.edu.au
collaboration of our STCRC industry partners: Parks Department of Conservation Social Sciences
Victoria, Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania, University of Idaho, USA
Western Australia Department of Environment and 208 882 5128
Conservation, and in particular their representatives Email: sham@uidaho.edu
on our project’s Industry Reference Group (IRG):
Ms Franca De Luca, Mr Peter Grant, and Mr Gil Dr Terry J Brown
Field. Their positive responses to every request and Griffith University, Lecturer and Researcher
generous in-kind support have made an invaluable Griffith Business School
difference in our preparation of this manual and the Phone: 07 3735 6710, Fax: 07 3735 6743
Professional Development Workshops. Email: t.j.brown@griffith.edu.au
We also extend thanks to the additional members of Mr Jim Curtis
our IRG for their keen interest and valuable advice Monash University, STCRC PhD Scholar
regarding the content and coverage of the manual: Tourism Research Unit
Ms Claire Savage, South Australia Department Phone: 03 9904 7067, Fax: 03 9904 7130
of Environment & Heritage; Ms Prue Daley, Email: james.curtis@buseco.monash.edu.au
Parks Victoria; and Mr Rod Hillman, Ecotourism Professor Betty Weiler
Australia. Monash University, Director,
Finally, we owe a special debt of gratitude to the Tourism Research Unit
many hundreds of proteced area visitors who have Phone: 03 9904 7104, Fax: 03 9904 7225
willingly participated in our studies and given us Email: betty.weiler@buseco.monash.edu.au
the opportunity to fine-tune the methods presented Dr Michael Hughes
here. We are grateful for their time, cooperation Curtin University, STCRC Research Fellow
and good will. Sustainable Tourism Centre
Phone: 08 9266 2123, Fax: 08 9266 1100
Email: michael.hughes@cbs.curtin.edu.au
Dr Mark Poll
Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania
Visitor Service Research Officer
Phone: 03 6233 2548, Fax: 03 6223 8308
Email: Mark.Poll@parks.tas.gov.au
vi
INTRODUCTION TO PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION THEORY
If you’re interested in influencing the behaviour of management strategies as law enforcement,
visitors to protected areas, this manual is for you. road closures, site hardening, and the erection of
Many managers, and some tourism operators, see barriers.
this as an important part of their job. While others
In the context of parks and protected areas, direct
can learn and apply the approach outlined in this
management can be quite effective. For example,
manual, and while the methods can be adapted for
if you want visitors to put their rubbish in bins, you
influencing many different kinds of behaviours, this
might not only provide the bins where you think
manual is written for protected area (PA) managers
they’ll be convenient for visitors, but you might issue
who want to influence the behaviour of people who
a fine to visitors who simply throw their rubbish on
visit their sites.
the ground. Similarly, if you want trail bike riders
You’ll note that we use the term influencing to stay off of certain tracks, you might close those
behaviour rather than changing it, since a lot of tracks and provide information and maps to direct
visitors are already doing what we want them riders to areas you want them to use.
to do, and still others arrive with no established
behavioural tendencies at all. So although When we say we want to
communication sometimes succeeds in changing influence visitor behaviour, we’re
a particular visitor’s behavioural intention, the
same communication might serve more to
talking about three possibilities—
reinforce how another visitor already intends to changing, reinforcing, or
behave, and for a third visitor it might suggest creating a new behaviour.
a new behaviour the person had never before
considered. When we say we want to influence You may find you’re using direct management
visitor behaviour, we’re talking about all three approaches quite successfully, but that they
of these possibilities—changing, reinforcing, or sometimes don’t work or aren’t the most desirable
creating a new behaviour.1 way to influence behaviour. First, policing of
behaviour and enforcement of regulations can be
You might think that getting a visitor to behave in expensive, not only because of the staff time it
a particular way is relatively straightforward, and requires but because of the costs you sometimes
indeed sometimes it can be. All of us have had the pay in damaged public relations. Second, such
experience of trying to influence the behaviour of direct approaches can rob visitors of their sense of
other people in our lives, and most of us have had freedom and sometimes have the potential to intrude
at least some success in doing it. Sometimes, for visually on the landscape they came to enjoy. For
example, we use so-called “carrot” approaches example, most visitors won’t object to tossing their
in which we encourage certain behaviours by rubbish in a rubbish bin, but they may not want to
educating people about them and by providing see rubbish bins in the backcountry. Many visitors
rewards for doing the things we want. Carrots feel that their experience is compromised if, as they
are indirect approaches since they ask visitors to enter your park, they’re issued with a long list of
do’s and don’ts along with warnings that they’ll be
comply voluntarily.
punished for non-compliance. Indeed, many of us
Other times we use “stick” approaches where we have cringed at one time or another at the sheer
discourage undesirable behaviours by establishing proliferation of regulatory signs in protected areas.
and enforcing rules or policies, or by otherwise It is for these reasons that PA managers increasingly
using our authority. Sticks are direct approaches supplement their direct management programs
to influencing behaviour in PAs and include such with less direct “carrot” methods. These include
especially the use of persuasive communication as
1
Occasionally we use the term “change”, but only when it’s clear that a means of influencing visitor behaviour.
an established behavioural pattern is already in place.
1
Promoting Persuasion in Protected Areas
In attempting to influence the behaviour of • behavioural beliefs, or what they believe to
protected area visitors, we can learn a lot from be the likely outcomes or consequences of
research that has been done in other fields, as the behaviour and their positive or negative
well as from successful applications of persuasive judgment about each of these outcomes;
communication in recreation and tourism settings.2
• normative beliefs, or how they believe other
The approaches in this manual draw on a range
people of importance to them want them to
of social science research and theory, but as a PA
behave and their motivation to comply with the
manager you mainly need to be aware of the two
wishes of these important others; and
overarching theories that inform the processes
described. The first is Ajzen’s theory of planned • control beliefs, or their beliefs about the
behaviour (TPB), and the second is Petty’s presence of situational and internal factors
and Cacioppo’s elaboration likelihood model of that make the behaviour easy or difficult to do,
persuasion (ELM).3 and how much each factor facilitates or inhibits
performing the behaviour.
Theory of planned behaviour (TPB)
Seeing behaviour through the eyes of the TPB will Consider the case of a young woman who arrives
lead us to make good decisions about the messages at a site where off-track walking is a persistent
that will be most effective in persuading visitors to problem. We’ll call it the ‘problem behaviour’ since
behave as we want. According to the TPB (Figure it’s the one you want to decrease. The behaviour
1), we can influence how others behave in a given you want from this visitor is to stay on the designated
situation by impacting three categories of beliefs track. We’ll call this the ‘target behaviour’ since
they have about the behaviour we desire of them: it’s the one your communication will be targeted
to encourage. According to the TPB, this visitor
2
You can find reviews of applications of persuasive communication
in recreation and tourism settings in Absher & Bright (2004), Curtis
may have all three types of beliefs about the target
(2007), Ham & Weiler (2005), Manfredo (1992), Manning (2003), and behaviour of staying on the designated track.
Roggenbuck (1992).
3
See Ajzen (1991) and Petty & Cacioppo (1986).
2Introduction to Persuasive Communication Theory
For each behavioural belief, we need to know how
Seeing behaviour through likely the visitor believes it is that this outcome will
the eyes of the TPB will lead us actually occur, and how good or bad she feels the
to make good decisions about outcome is. If this were the woman’s only salient
behavioural belief, combining these two things
the messages that will be most would tell us her attitude toward the behaviour of
effective in persuading visitors staying on the desgnated track. If she believes
to behave as we want. staying on the track is very likely to reduce her
environmental impact and if she evaluates this as
a good outcome, then she would have a positive
Behavioural beliefs attitude to your target behaviour. That’s what you
The woman’s behavioural beliefs include what she want. When visitors believe that good outcomes are
thinks are likely to be the outcomes or consequences likely and bad outcomes are unlikely, then there’s a
tendency to see the target behaviour as desirable.
of staying on the track and whether she thinks
each of these outcomes is good or bad. Although Normative beliefs
a visitor may have any number of beliefs about a
In addition to behavioural beliefs, our visitor may
given behaviour, only a few of them will be truly
also have salient normative beliefs about what
pertinent and important at the time s/he decides
important others (for example, other bushwalkers
how to behave. This subset of truly pertinent beliefs
or you as the manager) think about her staying on
is called “salient beliefs.” For example, our female
the designated track. Alternatively, or in addition,
visitor may hold the salient belief that staying on
she may have beliefs about what others in her
the designated track will reduce her impact on the
group (parents, children, friends) think about the
environment.
behaviour.
Behavioral Beliefs
A person’s belief that a Attitude toward
behaviour leads to certain the Behaviour Intervening
results & his or her evaluation
Factors
of these results
Normative Beliefs
A person’s belief that specific
individuals or groups think he Behavioural Behaviour
Subjective Norm
or she should or should not Intention
perform the behaviour & his or
her motivation to comply with
their wishes
Control Beliefs
A person’s belief that certain
Perceived
factors either facilitate or inhibit
Behavioural
performance of the behaviour
Control
& his or her assessment of the
degree to which each makes
the behaviour easy or difficult
Figure 1. Theory of planned behaviour model (source: Ajzen, 1991).
3Promoting Persuasion in Protected Areas
Here you need to find out who these important others Control beliefs focus on the presence or absence of
are and whether they would approve or disapprove ‘facilitators’ (things that make doing the behaviour
of the target behaviour. The TPB calls these ‘social easier) and ‘inhibitors’ (things that make doing the
referents’. In addition, you need to find out how behaviour more difficult). For each facilitator and
important it is to the visitor to do what each of those inhibitor, the visitor has beliefs about whether it is,
in fact, present (i.e., relevant to the situation), and
When visitors believe that good how easy or difficult it makes doing the behaviour.
Taken together, these two things will tell us how
outcomes are likely and bad much control our visitor feels she has over the
outcomes are unlikely, then behaviour (perceived behavioural control). If she
there’s a tendency to see the feels she has a lot of control (i.e., that facilitators
target behaviour as desirable. are prevalent and inhibitors are minimal), there will
be a tendency for her to stay on the designated
track. When a visitor perceives the presence of
people wants. This is called the visitor’s ‘motivation more facilitators than inhibitors, then the target
to comply’. Visitors usually will vary in how motivated behaviour is easier and therefore more likely.
they are to comply with the wishes of each social
referent. A normative belief is a combination of the
two (a belief about the degree to which a particular A strong motivation to comply with
social referent approves or disapproves of the referents that approve of the
behaviour and the degree to which the visitor wants behaviour creates social pressure
to do what the important other wants). If this were
to carry it out.
our visitor’s only salient normative belief, combining
these two things would tell us the amount of social
pressure (or subjective norm) she feels to perform On the right-hand side of the TPB model are
or not perform the behaviour. Say, for example, that behavioural intention and behaviour. As the diagram
other people on the track are an important social shows, the combination of our visitor’s attitude
referent for our visitor. If she believes they would toward staying on the track, her sense of social
approve of her staying on the track, and if she is pressure to stay on the track (subjective norm), and
strongly motivated to comply with their wishes, then whether she feels she has sufficient control over
she would feel social pressure to stay on the track. performing the behaviour (perceived behavioural
A strong motivation to comply with referents that control), will lead to an intention either to stay on the
approve of the behaviour creates social pressure track or walk off-track. If her intention is strongly in
to carry it out. favour of staying on the track, then she’s likely to do
just that. However, if her intention is negative (i.e.,
Control beliefs she intends to walk off-track), then the chances are
Our visitor’s salient control beliefs have to do with good that she won’t stay on the track.
whether she feels she is able to stay on the track.
Generally speaking, strong intentions are more
This sort of belief combines the degree to which
predictive of actual behaviour than weak ones, and
she feels she’s personally capable (i.e., has the
intentions that are formed just a short time before
physical ability, intelligence, time, resources and
the opportunity to behave are more predictive
opportunity) to stay on the track and the degree
than intentions that are made farther in advance.
to which she feels she has volitional control over
Obviously, the briefer the period between intention
whether or not to do it (e.g., if she’s part of an
and behaviour, the less likely it is that unanticipated
organised tour group and the tour guide leads the
factors can intervene. So if our visitor strongly
group off-track, she might feel she has little control
intends to stay on the designated track at the time
over the behaviour even if she personally objects
she embarks on her walk, she’s probably going to
to doing it).
stay on the track.
4Introduction to Persuasive Communication Theory
what they really think and really feel about the
When a visitor perceives
behaviours you wish to influence. The rest of this
the presence of more facilitators than manual shows you how to do this.
inhibitors, then the
TPB Summary
target behaviour is easier and
The theory of planned behaviour provides a very
therefore more likely. well accepted framework that can be applied to
protected area settings where managers want to
Measure, don’t guess use communication to persuade visitors to behave
in particular ways. Hundreds of studies have
You can see that all the factors leading up to a
applied the TPB to predict human behaviour, and
behavioural decision are internal to the visitor,
it’s being used all over the world in persuasive
meaning we can’t observe them directly; yet,
communication programs that successfully
somehow we need to know what they are. You
influence behaviour. Its range of applications is
might think that as a park manager you have a pretty
impressive: health, medicine, nutrition, safe sexual
good understanding of your visitors, and therefore,
practices, occupational safety, transportation
that you can more or less guess or intuit what your
choice, energy use, consumer purchasing, voting,
visitors believe or feel. However, experience shows
jury decision making, and many visitor behaviours
that this usually is not the case. First of all, most
in parks and protected areas (including camping
protected areas have a great diversity of visitors;
practices, low-impact backcountry use, choice
so what one group of visitors (or audience) believes
of tracks, wildlife feeding, dogs off-lead, mode of
about a behaviour can be very different from what
transport, tourist philanthropy, visitor safety, and
another group thinks.
other behaviours).
Second, studies show that what your visitors may
think (and even say to you) about a behaviour is
almost certainly context-specific. So even if you’ve If you want to be successful
chatted with many visitors over the years about a in your ultimate goal of
particular problem behaviour, for example, feeding
influencing behaviour, you’ll
wildlife in parks, their beliefs are not the same for
every species of animal, nor for every park, nor for need to begin by asking visitors
every wildlife-feeding situation in that park. what they think and feel
Finally, and probably most important, because we
managers have a specialised background, trained Of these myriad applications of the TPB, the
eyes, and a view of the protected area based on ones that are most successful are the ones that
our professional experience, we usually aren’t very are careful and precise about linking people’s
representative of the visitors whose behaviour we beliefs to a specific behaviour. While achieving a
want to influence. In short, they think and reason high level of precision in certain aspects of TPB
differently than we do. So it’s usually wise for us research requires a background in psychological
just to accept the fact that “we” are different and measurement theory, other aspects of it are
to make more concerted efforts to understand our more straightforward and require only a general
audiences’ perspectives on the behaviours we want understanding of the TPB framework as presented
to influence. in the previous pages. These are the methods this
manual will present. If your situation requires more
For these reasons, if you want to be successful in
advanced research experience, you might want
your ultimate goal of influencing behaviour, you’ll
to contact one of the authors or the psychology
need to begin by asking visitors what they think and
department at a nearby university.
feel. If you ask them carefully and in very precise
ways, you’ll increase your chances of understanding
5Promoting Persuasion in Protected Areas
Elaboration likelihood model (ELM)
The main lesson from the
We’ve seen so far that the TPB leads us to make
ELM is that if you want your
good decisions about the message content of our
persuasive communication, that is, which beliefs to communication to have a
target. It will now help to apply a little common sense strong and enduring impact on
and some basic guidelines from a second theory, the visitors’ beliefs, attitudes and
elaboration likelihood model of persuasion (ELM),
to most effectively get the message across.
behaviour, you’ll need them
to invest significant mental
In psychology, “elaboration” is a term for effortful
effort in engaging with and
thinking about a message. The main lesson from
the ELM is that if you want your communication processing your messages.
to have a strong and enduring impact on visitors’
beliefs, attitudes and behaviour, you’ll need them Since some visitors will process a given message
to invest significant mental effort in engaging with centrally and others will process it peripherally, it
and processing your messages. In ELM lingo, makes sense that you’ll increase your chances
this is called the ‘central route to persuasion’. The of success if you’re able to reach both kinds of
more visitors think in agreeable ways about what a audiences, regardless of whether they invest just
message asks of them, the more likely they are to a little or lot of mental effort in processing and
form a positive attitude about your target behaviour. thinking about your message. For example, for
Assuming your message doesn’t put them ‘off-side’ a non-personal or self-guided communication
or alienate them, it will generally be the case that device (such as a sign or wayside exhibit) to reach
the more they think about it, the stronger and more a peripheral-route audience, it needs to have a
enduring will be its influence on them. 4 strong provocative title and subtitles that quickly
communicate the desired behaviour, and which
If visitors give less mental effort to thinking about
show visitors that the request is coming from a
your message, the impact it can have on them
source they like and respect. If this brief message
will be weaker and shorter-lived. But since many
is accepted by these visitors, you’ll increase the
behavioural problems in protected areas occur in
likelihood of them complying with your request in
a relatively brief time frame (for example, during a
the immediate to short-term time frame.
few hours walk or one-day or overnight visit), it’s
possible for you to achieve a persuasive effect on For visitors who are motivated to invest more mental
certain short-term behaviours even when visitors effort, a strongly relevant message that presents
don’t think a lot about the message itself. The ELM compelling evidence for the behavioural request
calls this the ‘peripheral route to persuasion’. will be needed to get them to behave as you want.
Studies show that if visitors see your message as
Both routes to persuasion can be useful for a
easy to process and they feel motivated to engage
PA manager, the difference being that visitors
with it, it will have a stronger and more enduring
persuaded through the central route might continue
influence on them, not only in the short term, but
behaving as you want long into the future, whereas
possibly into the future. This is because the more
visitors persuaded via the peripheral route might
a visitor thinks about your message, the greater its
only behave as you want in a more immediate time
potential impact on the beliefs it targets.
frame or during the time they’re in your area. For
many PA managers, however, this will be a very Combining the TPB and ELM
satisfactory compromise.
In summary, the TPB and ELM work together to point
the PA manager not only to the content of messages
that stand the greatest chance of influencing a given
4
You’ll find a very similar view of persuasive communication in the behaviour, but to the communication strategy that
“heuristic-systematic processing model (HSM) developed by Chaiken
(1980). Both the ELM and HSM enjoy strong research support. will give those messages their greatest impact. If
6Introduction to Persuasive Communication Theory
little thought, the message might still achieve a
The more a visitor thinks
persuasive impact on them in the short term. Yes,
about your message, its effects would be shorter-lived for these visitors
the greater its potential impact because their beliefs were not as strongly impacted.
on the beliefs it targets. But even if your persuasive influence lasts no longer
than the time they spend in your park or protected
area, you’ll probably be happy with the results. This
your messages target visitors’ salient beliefs about
possibility is depicted by the “weaker path” arrow
the behaviour you, as a manager, desire, they will
in Figure 2.
be far more persuasive than messages you simply
make up or intuit. As the large arrows in Figure 2
illustrate, if you can connect those messages to
The TPB and ELM work
things that are strongly relevant to your visitors together to point the PA manager
(i.e., which truly matter to them), you’ll attract their not only to the content of
attention to what you’re asking of them. If visitors messages that stand the greatest
engage with a message and give a lot of mental
effort to thinking about it, the message can impact
chance of influencing a given
the beliefs it targets, thereby having a stronger and behaviour, but to the communication
more enduring impact on the visitors’ attitude about strategy that will give those
the behaviour, and ultimately the behaviour itself.
messages their greatest impact.
However, even if some visitors give comparatively
Increased
liklihood of Message-relevant
message-relevant attitudes
behavioural impacted
outcomes
Weaker path
Message-relevant
Strongly relevant Message-focused
beliefs altered,
message thinking
reinforced or
created
Stronger path
(elaboration)
What You Do What the Visitor Does
Figure 2. Pathways for influencing visitor behaviour in the TPB and ELM (source: Ham 2007).
7Promoting Persuasion in Protected Areas
Where is all of this going? A look ahead
The main thing our messages
So far, we’ve talked about influencing behavioural
intentions and behaviour by targeting beliefs with must do is make each targeted
persuasive messages. Generally, we know that belief strongly relevant to the
to strongly influence a behaviour, we first need to visitors whose behaviour we
have a pretty good idea (not just a guess) about the
want to influence.
visitors’ salient beliefs (behavioural, normative and
control) with respect to the behaviour we desire of
them, and then we need to target some of those can see that the main thing our messages must do
beliefs with messages that are strongly relevant to is make each targeted belief strongly relevant to
the audience and easy to process. But how do we the visitors whose behaviour we want to influence.
know which beliefs to target? Obviously, it would According to many TPB and ELM studies, when
be inefficient and prohibitively expensive simply these cornerstones of a communication strategy
to target them all. So we must have some way of are in place, successfully influencing behaviour is
deciding which ones would be best to target. That’s more likely than it would otherwise be.
what the rest of this manual is about. Here’s a In the following pages we’ll explain this reasoning in
preview of what’s ahead: a bit more detail and outline a process for building it
Let’s say you want to get your bushwalking visitors to into a persuasive communication strategy aimed at
pack out everything they pack into a remote section influencing visitor behaviour. This process includes
of your protected area. In this case, the audience five steps:
we’re targeting is bushwalkers who aren’t doing Step 1: Identifying problem behaviours
what we want them to do. So let’s call them the ‘non- Step 2: Understanding visitor beliefs about the
compliers’. To be successful in our communication desired behaviour
with these non-compliers, we’ll need to know not
Step 3: Identifying beliefs to target with persuasive
only their beliefs about packing out everything, but
communication
also the beliefs held by bushwalkers who already
do pack out everything (the ‘compliers’). Comparing Step 4: Designing your persuasive message
the beliefs of the non-compliers with those of the Step 5: Implementation, evaluation and adaptive
compliers will help us see which ones we would management
be wise to target in our communication to the non-
compliers. As you’ll see in later sections, the salient
A SUCCESSFUL COMMUNICATION
beliefs that differ most between the two groups are
STRATEGY
the ones we’ll want to focus our messages on. So
our strategy in this example would be to determine √ identifies visitors’ salient beliefs related
which salient beliefs are most different between to the behaviour (i.e., salient behavioural,
the compliers and non-compliers and then target normative and control beliefs);
those beliefs with strongly relevant messages that √ determines which of these salient beliefs
promote the ‘pack it in-pack it out’ target behaviour. are most different between compliers and
If, after exposure to our messages, visitors have non-compliers
the opportunity to engage in the target behaviour in
√ delivers strongly relevant messages that
a fairly short time frame, we ought to see increased
target these selected beliefs (whether to
compliance compared to the status quo.
change them, reinforce them, or to create
Taken in its entirety, the TPB model not only shows them anew in a visitor’s mind);
us the pathways through which communication can √ provides an opportunity in the immediate-
influence visitor behaviour, it also shows us where to short-term time frame for visitors to act
to start, and what we need to know in order to be on their beliefs.
successful. When we add the ELM to the mix, we
8STEP 1: IDENTIFYING PROBLEM BEHAVIOURS
The fact that you’re reading this manual suggests People who think like non-compliers
you want to address one or more management
are always our primary
problems resulting from visitor behaviour in your
park or protected area. This section will help you target audience.
clarify which of those behaviours can be addressed
using the method described in this manual, and authorities. People performing malicious or criminal
which ones are not appropriate candidates for acts have no intention of complying with what
this method. It will also provide guidance in terms management sees as desirable behaviour at that
of identifying behaviours associated with a given time and place. Messages attempting to deter such
problem and what you need to know about the acts will usually have little influence simply because
behaviour and the visitor in order to influence the messages will be dismissed by the target group
both. (and possibly even vandalised, stolen or destroyed
to prove this). Similarly, addictive behaviour such
Throughout this manual, we’ll use the term “target
as illicit drug taking and smoking are special cases
behaviour” to refer to the desired behaviour, whether
requiring an approach outside the scope of this
this is to get visitors to start doing something, or to
manual.
do something more consistently, or more often, or
in a particular place or at a particular time (e.g., Behaviours that require decision-making and
to stay on designated tracks or to practice a low- commitment to a course of action prior to arrival
impact camping technique near a particular river). at a site are also not suitable for treatment using
A target behaviour can also involve getting visitors the method in this manual. For example, a visitor
to stop doing something, or not to do something in arriving at a site fully prepared and equipped for a
a particular place or at a particular time (e.g., not previously planned activity such as off-road driving,
feed wildlife or not leave rubbish on the track). or a hiker arriving at a remote trailhead inadequately
equipped, are best addressed before the visitor
Any visitor who carries out the desired or target
leaves home. Messages received once at the site
behaviour in the way we want them to with respect to
are probably too late.
consistency, frequency, location and timing is called
a complier. Visitors who don’t do what managers This manual is designed for targeting actions over
want them to do are referred to as non-compliers. which visitors have at least some personal or
People who think like non-compliers are always our “volitional” control, and it will not be as useful when
target audience in persuasive communication. visitors lack this control. For example, anyone
who visits a national park as part of an organised
Behaviours this manual can’t group such as a school or tour group may not have
help you with
control over what they do. The manual will have
Before we go any further, it’s important to mention limited use in targeting these visitors, although it
the types of behaviour that are not suitable for the may prove useful in targeting the organisers and
methods in this manual. For example, persuasive leaders of such groups. Similarly, anyone who is
communication based on the TPB will not be very a passenger in someone else’s vehicle may be
effective in stopping visitors doing malicious acts or unable to influence decisions about driving off the
acts based on criminal intent. Behaviours such as track, but an attempt to use this manual to target
graffiti, vandalism, destruction of property, intentional drivers may be of some value.
killing of animals, theft and petty criminal acts fall into
this category. Criminal acts are usually carried out Finally, because the methods outlined in later
in a planned or opportunistic way with knowledge sections of the manual require you to make
that the behaviour is unacceptable to management comparisons between the beliefs of visitors who
already behave as you want (compliers) and those
9Promoting Persuasion in Protected Areas
who don’t (non-compliers), you must be able to to reduce the problem. You might want to discuss
readily identify visitors in each group. If you can’t the questions with other relevant members of your
directly observe who is currently doing the “right” organisation.
and “wrong” thing, the procedures in this manual
will be difficult to use.
What is the specific visitor behaviour
associated with the management problem?
Behaviours this manual can help you with For effective treatment of a visitor-induced
The methods outlined in this manual will have the management problem, it’s important to identify a
greatest chance of success if they’re used to address specific, observable behaviour associated with the
problems caused by intentional behaviours that are problem. You need to be confident that, by getting
uninformed or misguided. The methods are most visitors to more consistently engage in the desired
appropriate when visitors’ decisions to commit to behaviour, you’ll reduce the problem.
the behaviour are made on site rather than before
As a manager, the problem you have in mind may
they arrive. This includes behaviour resulting from
have a range of behaviours associated with it. For
visitors’ misconception that they’re actually doing
example, the problem of litter may result from:
something helpful or positive, behaviour stemming
people dropping rubbish, people not picking up
from their’ lack of knowledge of regulations, and
litter, not putting rubbish in a bin, not storing their
behavior based on naiveté or ignorance about
rubbish properly, and so on. Wildlife feeding may
actual impacts.
result from people offering their own food, bringing
specially prepared food (for example, bird seed),
If you can’t directly observe
carelessly leaving food scraps lying around after
who is currently doing the “right” a meal, not storing food properly, and so on. The
and “wrong” thing, the procedures problem of trampled vegetation may be a result
in this manual will be difficult to use. of visitors leaving the designated walking track,
walking off-track under certain soil moisture
Examples of problems this manual addresses conditions, taking vehicles off-track, or camping in
include feeding wildlife, littering, human waste sensitive areas.
disposal, trampling vegetation, inadvertently In order to address a problem with persuasive
disturbing sensitive cultural sites, touching cave communication informed by the TPB, a single
formations, and a host of dangerous or high-risk specific behaviour needs to be identified. This is
behaviours. Such behaviours usually result from an important, as you will ultimately create messages
information gap rather than from malicious intent. targeted at getting visitors to perform a specific
Finally, you’ll have the greatest chance of success behaviour in order to reduce the problem.
if you define your behaviour precisely with respect Identifying which behaviour contributes to a
to what you want specific visitors to do, and the particular problem is best done by managers and
place and time you want them to do it. For example, ‘on-the-ground’ staff such as rangers, perhaps in a
defining a target behaviour as “Bushwalkers will group discussion format.
clean their shoes before entering the wilderness at
the Black Lake trailhead” is going to be far more
useful to you than defining it simply as “Visitors will In order to address a problem
practice low-impact bushwalking.” with persuasive communication
Identification of visitor-induced problems informed by the TPB, you need to
The following questions will help you clarify the define a single specific behaviour.
behaviour associated with the problem you want
to address and what you would like visitors to do
10Step 1: Identifying Problem Behaviours
Where does the problem behaviour occur? Is the visitor behaviour easily observable?
It’s important to determine the prevalence of the As mentioned previously, to use the procedures in
problem and the number and types of visitors this manual, you must be able to actually see visitors
behaving in a way that contributes to the problem. engaging in the problem behaviour. This is important
This helps you determine later whether it’s practical because comparison of survey responses between
to survey visitors, observe them, and deliver compliers and non-compliers is needed to identify
messages to them effectively. the important beliefs. Behaviours such as feeding
wildlife, walking off tracks and not storing food
If a behaviour occurs over a large area it will be
properly will often be easy to observe. However,
more difficult to observe and survey visitors.
behaviours such as toileting in inappropriate
Problem behaviours that occur at specific,
locations on a remote hiking trail are more difficult
identifiable locations are ideal but not always the
to observe. If you can’t observe the problem
case. For example, the problem of visitors being
behaviour, you’ll have difficulty later when trying to
swept off coastal rocks while fishing (because they
divide survey responses into compliers and non-
use locations known for dangerous waves without
compliers and then deciding which beliefs are most
securing themselves in harnesses) could occur over
important to target in persuasive communication
hundreds of kilometres of coastline. Choosing one
messages.
or a few popular but dangerous fishing locations
might be necessary in this case.
To use the procedures in this
Who’s performing the problem behaviour? manual, you must be able to actually
Knowing who carries out the problem behaviour see visitors engaging in the
will help you to survey the right people. A behaviour
such as dropping litter might be done by visitors in
problem behaviour.
general. Problems such as mountain bike riders using
unauthorised trails can be linked to an obvious and Some managers might be tempted to simply ask
specific group (mountain bike riders). Participants visitors whether they comply with behaviours
in other activities such as feeding wildlife might not that cannot be readily observed. However, if the
be so obvious. They might be visitors in general or behaviour is illegal, against park policy, or socially
perhaps a more specific group such as picnickers, sensitive, asking visitors about what they have
while other visitors such as bushwalkers are not or haven’t done is not a reliable alternative. This
contributing to the problem. Identifying the type of is especially so if the behaviour has some sort of
visitor performing the behaviour means you don’t embarrassment factor associated with it (such as
waste time surveying visitors not involved in the toileting in the bush). Visitors will generally tell you
behaviour and who don’t need to be influenced by what you want to hear in a visitor survey or play
your messages. Remember, messages will always down things they think might not be condoned. So
be aimed at non-compliers. So identifying who they being able to observe the behaviour is key.
are is important. What behaviour do you want visitors to
engage in?
Is the behaviour regular?
Having identified a specific behaviour causing the
Ideally, the behaviour should happen on a fairly
problem, you now need to decide on the behaviour
regular basis at the site where the problem occurs.
you’d like visitors to do in order to reduce the
This makes it easier for you to get enough responses
problem. For example, if the problem of dune erosion
to the surveys in order to have meaningful results
is caused by visitors not following the marked
to work with in later sections of this manual. For
walking track to the beach, the desired behaviour
example, it will be important to get enough survey
might be ‘always staying on the walking track’. If the
responses to make sure you identify the beliefs
behaviour associated with the problem of wildlife
that are really associated with the target behaviour.
feeding is people giving food to birds, then the
We’ll come back to this point later.
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