Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Carl Holland Social Networks and Environmental Psychology: Data Collection

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Introduction Context Understanding behaviour Social Network Analysis Data collection Preliminary results

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Context Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) propose a link between capital funding and carbon emissions DMU Sustainable Development Taskforce (SDTF) set up in Autumn 2007 Engage with staff

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Understanding behaviour Over 40% of UK emissions from individual behaviour Well used models and theories of behaviour: –Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) –Schwartz’s Norm Activation Theory (NAT) –Triandis’ Theory of Interpersonal Behaviour (TIB) None of the above fully measure social influences – often asking, at most, for “perceptions”

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Social Network Analysis Nodes and ties Relationships between individuals Ego networks or whole networks Recognises the importance of contacts, position, access to resources

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Examples of Social Network Analysis Krebs. V., (2002) Uncloaking Terrorist Networks, First Monday, Volume 7 (4) Krebs. V., (unpublished) It’s the conversations, stupid! The link between social interaction and political choice.

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Respondents and Procedure DMU Staff Invite individuals randomly selected from DMU database Task 1: Gather ‘ego’ network data Task 2: Gather environmental psychology data Task 3: Gather characteristics of alters

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Task 1: Ego Networks Egos asked to name those that they are “Very close” to amongst all DMU employees. “Very close” are those that: –They discuss important matters with, –They regularly keep in contact with, –Are there for them when they need help. Report alter-alter ties

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Task 2: Value-Belief-Norm Theory Stern. P., Dietz. T., Abel. T., Guagnano. G., Kalof. L. (1999) A Value-Belief-Norm Theory of support for social movements: The case of Environmentalism, Research in Human Ecology, Volume 6 (2) 13 values questions – egoistic, altruistic, biospheric Full 15 question NEP 18 Awareness of Consequences (AC),Ascription of Responsibility (AR), Pro Environmental Personal Norms (PN)

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Task 2: Acceptability Judgements – Policy Support 1a) Should DMU reduce its greenhouse gas emissions? 1b) Should DMU receive less funding if it doesn’t reduce its greenhouse gas emissions? 2a) Reduce attending international students by 20% 2b) Allow staff to work from home one day per week 2c) Double the price of a car parking permit 2d) Reduce the target heating temperature by 1 ̊ C 2e) Help staff pay for annual train passes with loans

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Task 3: Gathering Alter characteristics Ego given named and numbered paper copies of the survey to give to their ‘alters’ ‘alters’ are those that they selected as being ‘very close’ to. ‘alters’ returned completed surveys in the internal post

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Results 88 Egos met face-to-face (31% of those invited) 606 Alters named by egos 86 alters were named twice or more 414 alters were named once only 407 alters have completed survey (67%)

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Ego network sociograms

Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development Any questions?