Name of Intervention/ Program
Fostering Sustainable Behavior: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing
Background and Situation Analysis
The first edition of Fostering Sustainable Behavior was published in 1996, with subsequent editions in 1999 and 2011. The fourth edition will be published in the fall of 2024. There are over 60,000 copies of Fostering Sustainable Behavior in print (the book has also been available freely online for more than twenty years and has been accessed by thousands of students and practitioners via the cbsm.com website). Recommended by Time magazine, the book has become requisite reading for those who deliver environmental behavior change programs. At the time of its first publication, social marketing texts had been largely devoted to applying social marketing knowledge to health and safety-related behavioral changes. Fostering Sustainable Behavior introduced the process of social marketing to many practitioners and academics in the environmental field.
Priority Audiences(s)
Fostering Sustainable Behavior has two target audiences. The most important audience has been program developers who deliver a broad array of environmental programs. A second audience is students and faculty who study or research the design of environmental behavior change programs.
Behavioral Objectives
The book’s principal objective was to merge knowledge from the behavioral sciences with the framework of social marketing and demonstrate to program developers how that knowledge could be applied to the myriad of behavioral changes associated with sustainability. It introduced a five-step framework of selecting behaviors, conducting barrier and benefit research, developing strategies based on knowledge from the behavioral sciences, piloting those strategies, and then broadscale implementation. The book also introduced how research on behavior change tools, such as commitments, social diffusion, social norms, prompts, and communication, could be utilized to deliver more effective environmental programs.
Description of Strategy/Intervention
Not applicable
Implementation
Not applicable
Evaluation Methods and Results
As noted above, one method of evaluating the success of Fostering Sustainable Behavior is to look at the number of copies in print. In many environmental agencies, reading this book is part of onboarding new hires. A more important gauge is the widespread adoption of community-based social marketing facilitated by the book. For example, the US Department of Energy released a report advocating that all residential energy efficiency programs in the US be delivered based on the framework of community-based social marketing. Similarly, NOAA has been a strong proponent of coastal protection programs using this methodology. Similarly, the US Environmental Protection Agency has mandated that community-based social marketing must be used as the process by which groundwater protection programs are delivered in several jurisdictions. While CBSM has received federal support in both the US and Canada, it has been most heavily used by agencies operating at the municipal level. Numerous North American cities use the framework of community-based social marketing in the delivery of their environmental programs, and it is common for this framework to be specified in requests for proposals that local government agencies and non-profits put out. Finally, the following reviews provide evidence of the impact of this book. “Over the last two decades, CBSM has revolutionized the development, implementation and promotion of environmental programs. Ken Donnelly, author of the Behavior Change newsletter. “Fostering Sustainable Behavior should be required reading for anyone who develops or manages an environmental program.” Dr. Wesley Schultz, California State University, San Marcos. “More than a book, ****** has given us a complete system for designing effective environmental programs.” Dr. Dan Dolderman, University of Toronto. “The 3rd edition of Fostering Sustainable Behavior should serve as the core foundational work for every practitioner, educator, and researcher interested in creating programs to achieve the book’s title.” Dr. Carrie Armel, Standford. “The concepts in this book have revolutionized my work as a scholar and an activist.” Cynthia McPherson Frantz, Oberlin College. “Fostering Sustainable Behavior is a must-read for anyone involved in energy and environmental policies and programs,” Linda Schuck, founder of Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference (BECC).
Entry Letter: Q