Human behavior impacts the environment significantly. To combat accelerated climate change, changes in daily habits are essential. This study investigates what motivates users to adopt environmentally friendly behaviors through a hypothetical mobile app that offers rewards for completing positive environmental challenges.

The study indicates that the most effective rewards combine personal pleasure and positive environmental impact. Excessive rewards can demotivate users if they don’t always receive them. Users want to see the tangible difference their actions make. If the impact seems too small, it might discourage them. The key is not lavish rewards but creating conscious users and making behavior change straightforward.

Each persona was presented with descriptions, and users selected the one they felt most resembled their current environmental behavior. These personas helped participants assess their levels of motivation and ability, which could be valuable for evaluating results. The following personas were identified based on Fogg’s behavior model.

High motivation / Low ability

Users with high motivation but low ability want to change but struggle due to time, money, or effort constraints. Challenges should be simple or offer attractive rewards to increase the likelihood of behavior change.

High motivation / High ability

Users with high motivation and high ability are both willing and able to change their behavior. Effective triggers alone should be sufficient to initiate the desired behavior change.

Low motivation / Low ability

Users with low motivation and low ability struggle to change their behavior. For a change to occur, either motivation or ability must increase from zero. Such users are likely to engage in challenges that require minimal effort and offer the highest rewards.

Low motivation / High ability

Users with high ability but low motivation can change behavior if tasks are simple. Motivation may be low due to insufficient social or emotional rewards. Increasing the attractiveness of rewards can enhance the likelihood of behavior change.

Five challenges were designed to examine what motivates users to perform environmentally positive actions. Each challenge had the same required ability level, ensuring no task was chosen for being too simple.

Challenge 1

Avoid running water while washing dishes, brushing your teeth, and shampooing in the shower.

Challenge 2

Have a vegetarian dinner.

Challenge 3

Unplug unnecessary devices and turn off all lights before you leave for work.

Challenge 4

Go to the store and recycle bottles.

Challenge 5

Pick out three surplus clothing items from your wardrobe.

Five rewards were designed to increase user motivation for environmentally beneficial behaviors based on Fogg’s elements of motivation. Each reward was linked to a specific challenge and varied across prototype versions by changing the order and associated challenge.

Reward 1

Earn 50 points.

Reward 2

Avoid losing 50 points.

Reward 3

Save money.

Reward 4

Share your achievement with your social network.

Reward 5

Reduce your daily emissions.

These rewards were simple to allow for open discussion during interviews and encourage participants to share their own motivational ideas. Users acted on the assumption of these rewards without receiving physical items.

Conducted a structured interview to gather qualitative data on their experiences, and concluded with a quantitative assessment of challenges and rewards.

Procedure

Fifteen participants were recruited using a convenience sampling method. To ensure each variation was tested five times, the participants were divided into three groups of five, with each group assigned a specific variation (differing in the placement of challenges and switching rewards.).

The user test was conducted via Zoom, starting with an introduction to the study and tasks. Participants filled out a consent form and then interacted with a prototype while the observer remained passive. After the interactive session, participants were interviewed using a predetermined template, focusing on challenges, rewards, motivation, and ability. The test concluded with a quantitative assessment of the challenges and rewards.

Frågor till studie

Direkt efter vald utmaning:

Varför valde du den utmaningen?

På vilket sätt tilltalade den dig mer gentemot övriga utmaningar?

Frågor för varje utmaning:

Motivation:

Vad tycker du om denna typ av belöning?

Hade belöningen kunnat vara utformad på något annat sätt för att den skulle vara ännu mer motiverande?

Vad anser du om denna belöning jämfört med övriga belöningar?

Hur viktig är en belöning för att du skall utföra utmaningen?

Vilken typ av belöning tilltalar dig mest? Social, personlig eller miljömässig vinning?

Förmåga:

Vad tycker du om denna typ av utmaning?

Är utmaningen för svår eller utmanande?

Upplever du att utmaningen kräver för mycket tid eller fysisk/psykisk ansträngning?

Tycker du att utmaningen skall vara utmanande eller så lätt som möjligt?

Hur skall en utmaning formuleras för att passa din livsstil? Skall den vara rutinmässig? Skall den få dig att ändra din livsstil?

Övriga frågor:

Hur rolig är denna typ av utmaningar?

Ser du fram emot att försöka utföra utmaningen?

When reviewing the material produced during the user studies, four major themes were noted. Additional subthemes were identified for each theme.

© Gustav Karlsson 2024