Eco-Warrior: A theory-based mobile app intervention for forming and sustaining pro-environmental habits

Abstract

This study developed and evaluated a theory-driven mobile app to facilitate pro-environmental behavior change and habit formation to address the prevalent attitude-behavior gap in environmental activism. The app first informs users of interconnected environmental problems and offers various pro-environmental behaviors for users to practice daily. The app further nudges users toward achieving their behavioral goals through personalized daily reminders, progress-tracking, empowering messages that celebrate their achievements, and reaffirmation of the beneficial impacts of their actions to facilitate eco-habit formation. To evaluate the app's effectiveness, a sequential mixed-design method combining a pre-and-post-design experiment and focus groups was conducted. Quantitative and qualitative assessments indicated the effectiveness of this mobile app in fostering the development of eco-habits.

Keywords

Mobile app environmental communication climate activism behavior change habit formation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ajzen

(2011). The theory of planned behaviour: Reactions and reflections. Psychology & Health, 26(9), 1113–1127. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2011.613995

Balińska

Jaska

Werenowska

(2021). The role of eco-apps in encouraging pro-environmental behavior of young people studying in Poland. Energies, 14(16), 4946. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14164946

Bandura

(1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice-Hall Inc.

Chen

M. F.

(2015). Self-efficacy or collective efficacy within the cognitive theory of stress model: Which more effectively explains people’s self-reported pro-environmental behavior? Journal of Environmental Psychology, 42, 66–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.02.002

Dhir

Sadiq

Talwar

Sakashita

Kaur

(2021). Why do retail consumers buy green apparel? A knowledge-attitude-behaviour-context perspective. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 59, 102398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2020.102398

Doherty

K. L.

Webler

T. N.

(2016). Social norms and efficacy beliefs drive the alarmed segment’s public-sphere climate actions. Nature Climate Change, 6(9), 879–884. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3025

Edstrand

(2016). Making the invisible visible: How students make use of carbon footprint calculator in environmental education. Learning, Media and Technology, 41(2), 416–436. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2015.1032976

Farjam

Nikolaychuk

Bravo

(2019). Experimental evidence of an environmental attitude-behavior gap in high-cost situations. Ecological Economics, 166, 106434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106434

Feldman

Hart

P. S.

(2016). Using political efficacy messages to increase climate activism: The mediating role of emotions. Science Communication, 38(1), 99–127. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547015617941

10.

Frick

Kaiser

F. G.

Wilson

(2004). Environmental knowledge and conservation behavior: Exploring prevalence and structure in a representative sample. Personality and Individual Differences, 37(8), 1597–1613. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2004.02.015

11.

Funk

(2021). Key findings: How Americans’ attitudes about climate change differ by generation, party and other factors. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/05/26/key-findings-how-americans-attitudes-about-climate-change-differ-by-generation-party-and-other-factors/

12.

Gibson

W. J.

Brown

(2009). Working with qualitative data. SAGE.

13.

Gong

Tian

Zhou

Pongpiachan

Chen

Sun

(2023). Mitigating perceived environment insignificance through information engagement. Science Communication, 45(4), 431–459. https://doi.org/10.1177/10755470231188357

14.

Greaves

Zibarras

L. D.

Stride

(2013). Using the theory of planned behavior to explore environmental behavioral intentions in the workplace. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 34, 109–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.02.003

15.

Gunderson

(2023). Powerless, stupefied, and repressed actors cannot challenge climate change: Real helplessness as a barrier between environmental concern and action. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 53(2), 271–295. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12366

16.

Heo

Muralidharan

(2017). What triggers young millennials to purchase eco-friendly products? The interrelationships among knowledge, perceived consumer effectiveness, and environmental concern. Journal of Marketing Communications, 25(4), 421–437. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2017.1303623

17.

Hornsey

M. J.

Fielding

K. S.

McStay

Reser

J. P.

Bradley

G. L.

Greenaway

K. H.

(2015). Evidence for motivated control: Understanding the paradoxical link between threat and efficacy beliefs about climate change. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 42, 57–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.02.003

18.

Kang

Y. J.

Lee

W. J.

(2015). Self-customization of online service environments by users and its effect on their continuance intention. Service Business, 9, 321–342. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-014-0229-y

19.

Kim

J. N.

Grunig

J. E.

(2011). Problem solving and communicative action: A situational theory of problem solving. Journal of Communication, 61(1), 120–149. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2010.01529.x

20.

Kim

Jeong

S. H.

Hwang

(2013). Predictors of pro-environmental behaviors of American and Korean students: The application of the theory of reasoned action and protection motivation theory. Science Communication, 35(2), 168–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547012441692

21.

Kreps

G. L.

(2020). Engaged communication scholarship: The challenge to translate communication research into practice. In H. Dan O'Hair & Mary John O'Hair (Eds.), The handbook of applied communication research (pp. 93–102). John Wiley & Sons.

22.

Leiserowitz

Maibach

Rosenthal

Kotcher

Ballew

Bergquist

Gustafson

Goldberg

Wang

(2020). Politics & global warming, April 2020. Yale University and George Mason University. Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.

23.

Lentin

Humphry

(2017). Antiracism apps: Framing understandings and approaches to antiracism education and intervention. Information, Communication & Society, 20(10), 1539–1553. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1240824

24.

Luszczynska

Schwarzer

(2005). Social cognitive theory. In Conner

Norman

(Eds.), Predicting health behaviour (2nd ed., pp. 127–169). McGraw-Hill Education, UK.

25.

Mao

Bayer

J. B.

Ross

M. Q.

Rhee

H. T.

Mount

Chang

Y.-J.

Hedstrom

Hovick

S. R.

(2023). Perceived vs. Observed mHealth behavior: A naturalistic investigation of tracking apps and daily movement. Mobile Media & Communication, 11(3), 526–548. https://doi.org/10.1177/20501579221149823

26.

McCloud

Jones

Lewis

Bell

Tsakanikos

(2020). Effectiveness of a mobile app intervention for anxiety and depression symptoms in university students: Randomized controlled trial. JMIR mHealth and UHealth, 8(7), e15418. https://doi.org/10.2196/15418

27.

Michaelsen

M. M.

Esch

(2022). Functional mechanisms of health behavior change techniques: A conceptual review. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 725644. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.725644

28.

Nabi

R. L.

Myrick

J. G.

(2019). Uplifting fear appeals: Considering the role of hope in fear-based persuasive messages. Health Communication, 34(4), 463–474. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2017.1422847

29.

Sudarshan

Jin

Nah

(2020). How 360-degree video influences content perceptions and environmental behavior: The moderating effect of environmental self-efficacy. Science Communication, 42(4), 423–453. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547020932174

30.

Ouariachi

Olvera-Lobo

M. D.

Gutiérrez-Pérez

(2017). Analyzing climate change communication through online games: Development and application of validated criteria. Science Communication, 39(1), 10–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547016687998

31.

Phillips

L. A.

Chamberland

PÉ

Hekler

E. B.

Abrams

Eisenberg

M. H.

(2016). Intrinsic rewards predict exercise via behavioral intentions for initiators but via habit strength for maintainers. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 5(4), 352–364. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000071

32.

Pinder

Vermeulen

Cowan

Beale

(2018). Digital behaviour change interventions to break and form habits. ACM Transactions on Computer–Human Interaction, 25(3), 1–66. https://doi.org/10.1145/3196830

33.

Qin

Wang

Namkoong

(2022). A meta-analysis of the overall effect of mHealth physical activity interventions for weight loss and the moderating effect of behavioral change theories, techniques, and mobile technologies. Mobile Media & Communication, 10(2), 337–359. https://doi.org/10.1177/20501579211054929

34.

Saksono

Castaneda-Sceppa

Hoffman

Morris

Seif El-Nasr

Parker

A. G.

(2020, April). Storywell: Designing for family fitness app motivation by using social rewards and reflection. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376686

35.

Salomon

Preston

J. L.

Tannenbaum

M. B.

(2017). Climate change helplessness and the (de) moralization of individual energy behavior. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 23(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000105

36.

Sawitri

D. R.

Hadiyanto

Hadi

S. P.

(2015). Pro-environmental behavior from a socialcognitive theory perspective. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 23, 27–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proenv.2015.01.005

37.

Schneider

C. R.

Zaval

Weber

E. U.

Markowitz

E. M.

(2017). The influence of anticipated pride and guilt on pro-environmental decision making. PloS One, 12(11), e0188781. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0188781

38.

Seelig

M. I.

(2019). Popularizing the environment in modern media. The Communication Review, 22(1), 45–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714421.2019.1569449

39.

Seelig

M. I.

Deng

Liang

(2022). A frame analysis of climate change solutions in legacy news and digital media. Newspaper Research Journal, 43(4), 370–388. https://doi.org/10.1177/07395329221112391

40.

Shahangian

S. A.

Tabesh

Yazdanpanah

(2021). Psychosocial determinants of household adoption of water-efficiency behaviors in Tehran capital, Iran: Application of the social cognitive theory. Urban Climate, 39, 100935. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2021.100935

41.

Shiota

M. N.

Papies

E. K.

Preston

S. D.

Sauter

D. A.

(2021). Positive affect and behavior change. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 39, 222–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.04.022

42.

Spartz

J. T.

L. Y. F.

Griffin

Brossard

Dunwoody

(2017). YouTube, social norms and perceived salience of climate change in the American mind. Environmental Communication, 11(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2015.1047887

43.

Swim

J. K.

Aviste

Lengieza

M. L.

Fasano

C. J.

(2022). OK Boomer: A decade of generational differences in feelings about climate change. Global Environmental Change, 73, 102479. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102479

44.

Tao

Tian

Sunny Tsai

W. H.

Seelig

M. I.

(2022). The power of emotional appeal in motivating behaviors to mitigate climate change among generation Z. Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 36(1), 37–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/10495142.2022.2133058

45.

Verplanken

Orbell

(2003). Reflections on past behavior: A self-report index of habit strength. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33, 1313–1330. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2003.tb01951.x

46.

Wang

Corner

Chapman

Markowitz

(2018). Public engagement with climate imagery in a changing digital landscape. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 9(2), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.509

47.

Willoughby

J. F.

Smith

(2016). Communication strategies and new media platforms: Exploring the synergistic potential of health and environmental communication. Science Communication, 38(4), 535–545. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547016648151

48.

Yadav

Pathak

G. S.

(2017). Determinants of consumers’ green purchase behavior in a developing nation: Applying and extending the theory of planned behavior. Ecological Economics, 134, 114–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.12.019

49.

Zawadzki

S. J.

Steg

Bouman

(2020). Meta-analytic evidence for a robust and positive association between individuals’ pro-environmental behaviors and their subjective wellbeing. Environmental Research Letters, 15(12), 123007. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abc4ae

50.

Zhang

Pinto

(2021). Changing the world one meme at a time: The effects of climate change memes on civic engagement intentions. Environmental Communication, 15(6), 749–764.