Research In Progress: A theory-based mobile app for forming and sustaining pro-environmental habits

June 7, 2022

By Ching-Hua Chuan, Michelle I. Seelig, Weiting Tao, and Wan-Hsiu Sunny Tsai, University of Miami

Mobile technologies are now an integrated part of individuals’ daily lives for work, play, and learning. Growing research has highlighted the potential of mobile apps as innovative solutions to address various problems, including pedagogical apps for anti-racism activism, as well as health apps (mHealth) for promoting physical exercises, stress reduction and weight management.

In particular, mHealth studies have advocated using mobile technologies to deliver habit-based interventions. Related to environmental activism, research suggests that eco-apps can be a new source of information for pro-environmental behavior among young people. However, they also noted that most existing eco-apps focus on one behavior only (e.g., zero-waste app, carbon calculator).

Empirical research that examines the potential of mobile apps for multi-faceted pro-environmental behavior changes are necessary to address this gap. And more importantly, they must sustain such behaviors as lasting habits.

While Gen-Zers consider themselves ecologically educated, their digital advocacy fails to align with offline behavioral change and activism.

In this study, we will design, develop and test a mobile app to facilitate pro-environmental behavior change.

As new technologies can lead to new conceptions, perspectives, and behaviors, the proposed mobile app aims to help Generation Z users frequently and continuously engage in pro-environmental actions and ultimately embrace these behaviors as habits. Research suggests that while Gen-Zers consider themselves ecologically educated, their digital advocacy fails to align with offline behavioral change and activism.

Members of Gen Z are considered “aware publics” who are well informed about climate change issues. However, they lack the motivation or commitment to engage in behaviors that may mitigate or prevent environmental threats. The proposed theory-based mobile app intervention will be designed to motivate and enable those Gen Z members to become “active publics” to take actions in their everyday lives to address environmental issues.

This study will incorporate the key factors identified in the rich literature on behavioral change and habit formation to design a mobile app intervention that reminds tech-savvy, and mobile-dependent Gen Z users of specific pro-environmental behaviors as everyday habits.

Through an iterative process, the mobile app will be designed to influence factors such as problem recognition, perceived constraint, self-efficacy, and outcome expectations, to drive the formation and maintenance of pro-environmental habit outcomes. Based on behavioral data recorded in the app as well as self-reported qualitative and quantitative data, the effectiveness of the mobile app will be evaluated.

This project will advance the mission of the Page Center in important ways. Our study will provide one of the earliest empirical studies on using mobile apps as an innovative and effective tool to cultivate and reinforce sustainability behaviors among stakeholders, which is a key goal of organizational sustainability initiatives.

Furthermore, mobile apps provide new ways to study causal mechanisms with behavioral data for organizations to assess the impact of their sustainability communication. This is particularly meaningful in overcoming the key challenges associated with the attitude-behavior gap in organizational sustainability communication evaluation.

For further information on this study, please email Tsai at wanhsiu@miami.edu, Ching-Hua Chuan at c.chuan@miami.edu, Weiting Tao at weiting.tao@miami.edu or Michelle Seelig at mseelig@miami.edu. Results from the study will be available next year. This project is supported by a 2022 Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar Grant from the Arthur W. Page Center.