"What a catalyst you turned out to be" - the role of influential individuals in changing environmental behaviour

"Never doubt that a small number of committed citizens can change the world", wrote Margaret Mead. But what are the characteristics and attributes that those committed individuals need to have in order to do so?

A recent report for Defra by Brooke Lyndhurst investigated the role of influential individuals in spreading pro-environmental behaviour, and their relationships to issues of identity, trust and social norms. These individuals are known by a variety of overlapping terms - catalysts, early adopters, opinion formers, influencers, persuaders, protagonists, connectors, change agents, boundary spanners and even 'mavens' - all of whom have certain characteristics or attributes in common. These terms are interchangeable, and I use them as such.

Being catalysts is a part of their personality. It isn't something they learned at school or on a training course, it's just something they like to do. The crucial thing about them is that they are able to play a special role in spreading new ideas and behaviours. Gregarious, sociable, opinionated, positive, altruistic are the terms used to describe them. How many of those describe you? (I am definitely the last three and sometimes the first two). Their influence derives largely from 'internal consistency' - they mean what they say; do as they say; persuade people directly and also indirectly because people want to be like them. They 'get things done' and if a suitable network doesn't exist, then create one.

Defra's research interviewed twenty-two catalytic individuals - not specifically environmental influencers, but 'general' influencers from all walks of life. They told the interviewers that pro-environmental behaviour could be appended to other behaviours, such as health and money saving.

There is no tick-box approach to finding influential individuals. They cannot be identified through market research questionnaires in the way one might identify people from a random sample of shoppers who are most likely to use a new variety of soap powder, sign a petition to save Birmingham's markets or vote for a particular political party. Our experience confirms that catalysts don't put themselves forward in this way. Finding them is time-consuming but ultimately cost-effective. A sociometric approach needs to be used to find them. 'Snowballing' is the sociometric technique that Brooke Lyndhurst used, which involves researchers hanging around school gates and shopping centres (in the nicest possible way) - without a questionnaire - and asking people a series of questions about who does what in the local community. Eventually they will find the right person.
Influential individuals are creative, thoughtful and idiosyncratic (who, me?) and don't like being told what to do. They don't just pass on information or innovations, they use their own judgement, they think laterally to adapt and modify it to suit them and the people they wish to help.

There are ten critical dynamics in spreading innovation, and influential individuals will use as many as are necessary. The ten dynamics, as listed in the Brooke Lyndhurst report, are:

1. Relative advantage: the more potential value or benefit is anticipated from an innovation, the faster it will diffuse;

2. Trialability: the ability to try an innovation improves the prospects for adoption and diffusion;

3. Observability: the extent to which potential adopters can "see‟ the benefits of the innovation (and, indeed, physically see the innovation) improves the prospects for adoption and diffusion;

4. Communication channels: the paths chosen by opinion leaders to communicate an innovation affect the pace and pattern of diffusion;

5. Homophilous groups: innovations spread faster amongst homophilous [roughly, "like-minded‟] groups;

6. Pace of innovation/reinvention: some innovations tend to evolve and are altered along the way of diffusion whilst others remain stable; the former tend to diffuse more quickly than the latter;

7. Norms, roles and social networks: innovations are shaped by the rules, hierarchies and informal mechanisms of communication operating in the social networks in which they diffuse;

8. Opinion leaders: "opinion leaders‟ or catalytic individuals affect the pace of diffusion;

9. Compatibility: the ability of an innovation to coexist with existing technologies and social patterns improves the prospects for adoption/diffusion;

10. Infrastructure: the adoption of many innovations depends on the presence of some form of infrastructure or of other technologies that cluster with the innovation.

We often focus on one of the dynamics, e.g. observability of solar panels or other energy saving measures such as display energy monitors. Observability is closely linked to the 'build it and they will come' mentality that has characterised energy efficient demonstration projects in the past, where it was thought that just setting a good example that others could see, would be sufficient to encourage them to copy it. In practice, successful demonstration projects use as many of the ten dynamics as possible. A good example is Harriet and Chris Martin's Old Home Superhome energy efficient retrofit of their home in Bournville. This scores well on trialability and comparability because it coexists with a 1930s home; and infrastructure, because they have chosen measures for which there is a developing supply chain rather than going for something flashy but which it is difficult for potential copiers to get hold of. This is in addition to the observability which all demonstration projects have. The approach taken by Chris and Harriet is in contrast to some high-profile low-carbon new build and retrofit housing projects, the type that sometimes feature in Sunday newspapers, which score highly on observability but low on trialability, comparability and infrastructure. Harriet and Chris' approach is the more likely to be emulated by others.

Brooke Lyndhurst concluded that:

1. Pro-environmental behaviours should be seen as social innovations. This is a significant shift for most environmental people who only think of pro-environmental behaviours in purely environmental terms. We need to think laterally about how pro-environmental behaviours can have social and economic outcomes. Examples might include:
• Cycling and walking are good for your health
• Shopping local is good for the economy and supports more jobs than supermarkets
• Hanging the washing on the line means you can have a chat with your neighbour.

All persuasive arguments, and not a single mention of carbon footprint is needed.

2. An understanding of diffusion theory, such as the ten dynamics listed above, is key to understanding how pro-environmental behaviours will permeate the population.
Altruism is the greatest motivation of influential individuals. This means that there is a good chance they will not only be good neighbours who want to help their fellow residents, but also good citizens who want to save the planet. Finding them is an important part of making schemes like Birmingham Energy Savers a success.