What motivates people to embrace a sustainable lifestyle?

Are you a tribal follower? Or an uncompromising eco-warrior? Perhaps you are more of a joyful everyday juggler?

Our motivations matter. They guide us as we make choices at work and at home. And it is these motives that we need to tap into to help people commit to a greener lifestyle.

I’ve been intrigued by how behavioural science and communications intersect lately.

So my ears perked up during one of the sessions at the World Circular Economy Forum (#wcef2021) when a speaker cited a Finnish study by the organisation Sitra (https://lnkd.in/eRF_Tt5d) that identified seven motivation profiles for Finns:

Ambitious experience seeker (9% of Finns)
Headstrong traditionalist (16%)
Tribal follower (7%)
Joyful everyday juggler (21%)
Thrifty optimiser (14%)
Well-being and nature enthusiast (17%)
Uncompromising eco-warrior (16%)

The study built upon these profiles to identify appropriate ways of encouraging people to embrace more sustainable living.

For instance, the best ways to speak to a well-being and nature enthusiast are to highlight positive health and well-being impacts and to bring up benefits to the environment.

Tribal followers, by contrast, are drawn to products or services that are unique and interesting and are open to sustainability if they have good examples to follow.

As Sitra notes, “when we understand the motivating factors behind our choices, we can also make sustainable solutions attractive to people who aren’t necessarily motivated by climate change and other sustainability issues. It is essential to mainstream sustainable lifestyles and to highlight that leading a more sustainable everyday life does not mean living a dreary life and giving up things. Instead, it offers truly attractive opportunities that fit our own values and personal factors that motivate us such as better health, increased well-being, time savings, money savings, time with loved ones, and so forth.”

Interesting, right? Well, the session got even more thought-provoking.

It turns out that OneEarth in Canada went one step further and adapted the study into Seven Motivations for Lighter Living Action https://lnkd.in/eQxGQ_Dd for the province of British Columbia, namely:

Waste Not, Want Not (22%)
Shop, Style & Social (20%)
Eco-Trends (20%)
Healthy Life & Planet (14%)
Rugged Independence (10%)
Practical Traditions (7%)
Work Hard, Live Large (7%)

Looking at the different profiles made me think: if the things that drive us differ by culture, shouldn't we, as international communicators, incorporate these insights as we craft words and messaging for our customers?

For my part, I’m, well, motivated to dig deeper into how people make choices in different countries and how to best appeal to them by telling stories that resonate - no matter their motivations.

Image: Motivation profiles displayed on a value map (Schwartz 2012, Helkama 2015)