Improving Recruitment and Reten2on of UW Green Laboratory Cer2fica2on Program Par2cipants Hannah Hainline Advisor: Stanley T. Asah School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Spring 2015
Introduc2on: The Green Laboratory CerEficaEon program on campus promotes campus laboratories to adopt sustainability pracEces in their everyday lab operaEons. Overall, the cerEficaEon rate of campus laboratories has been around 1%. Using various persuasion techniques through recruitment and retenEon strategies, laboratories can have higher and conEnuing parEcipaEon in the Green Laboratory CerEficaEon program. There are six common useful persuasion techniques: reciprocaEon, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity. Using these techniques as the basis to evaluate the recruitment and retenEon efforts of the Green Laboratory CerEficaEon Program, areas for improvement of involvement within the program are revealed. Methods: I used interviews, and examined communicaEon strategies (materials and media) used by the program. Interviews also explored then various communicaEon and outreach strategies, employed by the program, to recruit and retain parEcipants. Interviews were transcribed verbaEm and together with other recruitment and retenEon materials and media, I coded the data by searching for evidence of the presence or absence of the following persuasion techniques: (i) ReciprocaEon, (ii) Commitment and Consistency, (iii) Social Proof, (iv) Liking, (v) Authority, and (vi) Scarcity. Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Stanley Asah, my advisor, for being a great knowledge sources and guides for my project. I will also like to thank the interviewees and the staff of the Green Labs Program for their support! Results: I found that some efforts of the Green Laboratory Program use persuasion techniques in their disfavor. Many of the communicaEon mediums and techniques were only beneficial to an audience that already had a green mindset. The main form of recruitment that could discourage interest in cerEficaEon is their compeEEon based prize system. Persuasion methods have shown that when people compete with one another, interest and involvement are diminished. AddiEonally, in their recerEficaEon process the contrast principle works against them. The contrast principle states that people compare more harshly things that are consecuEvely placed together. Green Laboratory states their easier recerEficaEon opEon before their more difficult one, making it seem more extreme that it actually is. One posiEve aspect of persuasion that Green Laboratory uses is the reciprocaEon technique. ReciprocaEon occurs when someone gives you something, you feel obligated to give them something in return. Green Laboratory did this by supplying laboratories that had cerEfied with UW Husky Grind coffee, which encouraged them to stay commiYed in the program. Discussion & Recommenda2ons: I intended to provide recommendaEons to improve the Green Labs CerEficaEon Program’s recruitment and retenEon efforts. The primary suggesEon for improvement would be to replace the compeEEon with an overall goal for the laboratories to work for. This would help the laboratories feel connected by needing to work together. Working together for a goal enables Commitment and Consistency as well as Social Proof. I suggest to remove staEsEcs for the amount of environmental damage and polluEon that laboratories cause. It has been shown that people feel more responsible when convinced that something is wrong, rather than being told the consequences. When people feel responsible, it promotes the Commitment and Consistency theorem to stay true to oneself, thus encouraging further green acEons. A final proposiEon for improvement would be to integrate persuasion techniques through face-­‐to-­‐face interacEons. When physically speaking with someone, it is easier to use persuasion techniques such as rejecEon retreat and authority. Physical interacEon also permits Commitment and Consistency along with Social Proof. Conclusion: ConservaEon Psychology, the science and pracEce of promoEng pro-­‐environmental behaviors, can help managers and policy makers meet their desired goals. When considering projects that require acEon from people on a personal level, employing ConservaEon Psychology can be invaluable. Resources: Cialdini, R. Influence. HarperCollins Publishers, New York. Print. 2007. Climate AcEon Plan. University of Washington, website. 2009. Available at: hYp://f2.washington.edu/oess/sites/default/files/file/UW%20Climate%20 AcEon%20Plan%2010_9.pdf. (Accessed February 12, 2015). Human Dimensions of Natural Resources. HDNR, website. 2015. Available at: hYp://www.human-­‐dimensions.org. (Accessed March 20, 2015). Bath, A. Human Dimensions Working with People Toward EffecEve ConservaEon.UKWCT, website.2009. Available at: hYp://www.cfr.washington.edu/classes. esrm.458/Bath.% 202009.%20Human%20Dimensions.%20Working%20with%20People%20 Toward%20EffecEve%20ConservaEon.pdf (Accessed March 20, 2015). Green Laboratory Program. University of Washington, website. 2015. Available at: hYps:// green.uw.edu/green-­‐laboratory (Accessed May 28th, 2015). S-­‐Lab Briefing 2: Understanding Laboratory Energy ConsumpEon. Higher EducaEonEnvironmental Performance Improvement, website. 2011. Available at: hYp://www.i2sl.org/elibrary/ documents/somervell_nuYall.pdf (Accessed February 12, 2015).