Behaviour Change: What role do we want governments to play? An international comparison

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Behaviour Change: What role do we want governments to play? An international comparison Ipsos MORI Social Research Institute

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How do attitudes towards behaviour change policies vary around the globe?

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What people say and how they act is different but…

A measure which does not have public support is, in general,

less likely to succeed House of Lords report on Behaviour Change

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What we did

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We asked people in 24 countries…

Britain

Spain

France

Italy

Germany

Poland

Hungary

Belgium

Argentina

Brazil

India Indonesia

Japan

Mexico

Saudi Arabia

South Africa

South Korea

Sweden

Turkey

Key: 1,000 interviews

500 interviews

Australia

Canada

China

Russia

USA

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…about their support for different degrees of government intervention in these areas:

FOOD

RETIREMENT

ENVIRONMENT SMOKING

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We looked at four degrees of Government intervention – and also asked about interventions against business

Provide information about changing behaviour INFORMATION FO

RC

E OF IN

TERVEN

TION

Provide incentives to change behaviour INCENTIVES

Make behaviour more expensive or difficult RESTRICTIONS

Ban behaviour BAN OUTRIGHT

Make companies act to change behaviour COMPANIES

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Limitations of the data

• As such, for developing nations the results are not representative of the country as a whole

• Internet penetration by no means uniform

• Results must be seen in this context

• There may be bias in some countries where Internet is not felt to be private

• Ecological data

• Definitions will be different

Global @dvisor is conducted through an internet survey in 24 countries

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Our findings

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What, if anything, do you think government should do? (Average over all four policy areas)

…perhaps surprisingly, there is majority support for intervention across the board…

Base: c.500 - 1,000 residents aged 16-64 (18-64 in the US and Canada) in each country, November 2010 Source: Ipsos Global @dvisor

92%

87%

69%

62%

0%

88%

% Strongly support/tend to support

Provide information

Provide incentives

Make companies act against behaviour

Make behaviour more expensive/ difficult

Ban behaviour

FOR

CE O

F INTER

VENTIO

N

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But people support different degrees of intervention in different policy areas…

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Next, thinking about how people plan for retirement. What, if anything, do you think government should do?

People want financial incentives to save for their pension, and 7 in 10 support being forced to save


92%

90%

79%

69%

87%


Provide information

Provide incentives

Make employers contribute to pension schemes

Make pension scheme enrolment automatic

Make pension scheme enrolment mandatory

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Now thinking about smoking: What, if anything, do you think government should do?

Smoking: still low support for an outright ban, but banning in public places is largely accepted


92%

82%

80%

52%

84%


Provide information

Incentivise people to stop smoking

Make tobacco companies invest against smoking

Ban smoking in public places

Ban smoking altogether

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Firstly, thinking about what people choose to eat. What, if anything, do you think government should do?

There are exceptions to the hierarchy of public support


90%

82%

53%

60%

88%


Provide information about healthy eating

Provide incentives, such as health food vouchers

Make companies promote healthy choices

Make unhealthy foods more expensive

Ban unhealthy foods

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Now thinking about using the planet's resources in a sustainable way (i.e. in a way that protects the quality of life of future generations). What, if anything, do you think government should do?

Similar story around environmental interventions


92%

92%

63%

68%

91%


Provide information

Make sustainable options less expensive

Make companies be more sustainable

Make unsustainable products more expensive

Ban unsustainable products

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But we also gave people the opportunity to say whether the government should not get involved in their behaviour…

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Half still have a negative gut reaction to the “nanny state”


53%

53%

46%

46%

50%


Not get involved in what people choose to eat

Not get involved in what people choose to save for retirement

Not get involved (average)

Not get involved in whether or not people choose to live sustainably

Not get involved in how people make decisions about smoking

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Inconsistent views or a question of framing?

69% agreed that “government

should change the law so that

everyone has to enrol in a pension

scheme”

53% agreed that “government

should not get involved in what people choose to

save for retirement”

36%

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Support for the five degrees of intervention varies in different ways between countries

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Government should provide information… (Average over all four policy areas)

Support for information is uniformly high (range = 16pp)


98% 98% 97% 97%

95% 94% 94% 93%

93% 93% 92% 92% 92% 91% 91% 91% 90%

90% 90%

88% 85% 85%

84% 82%

Indonesia South Africa

China Turkey

Saudi Arabia India

South Korea Mexico

Australia Brazil

Russia Hungary

Argentina Canada Belgium

Italy Great Britain

Poland Spain

Germany France Japan

Sweden USA

Tend to support/strongly support

INFO

RM

ATIO

N

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Government should ban… (Average over all four policy areas)

Support for outright prohibition shows the full extent of political diversity (range = 54pp)


87% 87%

86% 84%

75% 72%

69% 68%

66% 64% 63%

63% 62%

60% 56%

53% 53%

52% 52%

51% 49% 49%

43% 33%

Saudi Arabia India

Indonesia China

Russia Turkey Mexico

Italy South Korea

Poland Argentina

Brazil Japan

South Africa Hungary Canada

Spain Australia

France Belgium

Germany Great Britain

Sweden USA


BA

N O

UTR

IGH

T

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Government should make companies… (Average over all four policy areas)

Broad support for government intervention in business but price trade off not explored


97% 97% 97%

94% 94%

93% 92%

92% 91%

90% 90% 90% 89%

86% 85% 85% 85% 85%

84% 83% 82%

81% 80%

66%

Indonesia China

Turkey Saudi Arabia

India Russia Mexico

South Africa Hungary

Brazil France

Italy Argentina

South Korea Belgium

Australia Canada Poland

Great Britain Germany

Spain Japan

Sweden USA


CO

MPA

NIE

S

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Specific questions really emphasise the difference between countries

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Government should introduce laws to ban unhealthy foods

Cultural divide? The right to eat what I want (range = 68pp)


89% 89%

88% 87% 87% 87%

86% 71%

70% 68%

65% 64%

63% 55%

53% 43%

42% 41%

39% 35% 35%

33% 33%

21%

China South Korea Saudi Arabia

India Indonesia

Turkey Russia Mexico Japan

Argentina Italy

Spain Poland

Hungary Brazil

Germany South Africa

Canada Belgium France

Sweden Australia

Great Britain USA


OU

TRIG

HT

BA

N

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Now let’s investigate the patterns between countries…

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Countries do not differentiate in a nuanced way between shoves: if you like one type of legislation then you’ll like another

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Strong correlation between support for banning and restricting


ARGENTINA AUSTRALIA

BELGIUM

BRAZIL CANADA

CHINA

FRANCE

GERMANY

UK

HUNGARY

INDIA

INDONESIA

ITALY

JAPAN

MEXICO

POLAND RUSSIA

SAUDI ARABIA

SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH KOREA

SPAIN

SWEDEN

TURKEY

UNITED STATES 30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% 90%

RESTRICTIONS

BAN

OU

TRIG

HT

R² = 0.9357

LIBERALISM

PATERNALISM

Strongly support/tend to support policy

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But by comparing other interventions we can observe more subtle characteristics…

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Subtle differences between nations emerge: authoritarians and incentivisers


ARGENTINA

AUSTRALIA BELGIUM

BRAZIL

CANADA

CHINA

FRANCE GERMANY

UK

HUNGARY

INDIA INDONESIA

ITALY

JAPAN MEXICO

POLAND

RUSSIA

SAUDI ARABIA

SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH KOREA

SPAIN

SWEDEN

TURKEY

UNITED STATES 20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% 90% 95% 100%

INCENTIVES

BAN

OU

TRIG

HT

R2 = 0.50

Tend to support/strongly support for food and smoking (average)

BANNING OVER INCENTIVES

INCENTIVES OVER BANNING

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Prevalence of obesity does not appear a factor in the case of food

Base: c.500 - 1,000 residents aged 16-64 (18-64 in the US and Canada) in each country, November 2010 Source: Ipsos Global @dvisor; International Obesity Taskforce

ARGENTINA

AUSTRALIA

BELGIUM

BRAZIL

CANADA

CHINA

FRANCE

GERMANY

UK

HUNGARY

INDIA

INDONESIA

ITALY

JAPAN

MEXICO

POLAND

RUSSIA SAUDI ARABIA

SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH KOREA

SPAIN

SWEDEN

TURKEY

UNITED STATES

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36

% ADULTS WITH BMI ≥ 30

STR

ON

GLY

SU

PPO

RT/

TEN

D T

O S

UPP

OR

T

R2 = 0.60

OUTRIGHT BAN

Government should introduce laws to ban unhealthy foods

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Government should introduce laws to ban…?

Prevalence of smoking appears to strengthen opinion – the power of nicotine

Base: c.500 - 1,000 residents aged 16-64 (18-64 in the US and Canada) in each country, November 2010 Source: Ipsos Global @dvisor; WHO World Health Statistics 2010

ARGENTINA AUSTRALIA

BELGIUM

BRAZIL

CANADA

CHINA

FRANCE

GERMANY

UK

HUNGARY

INDIA

INDONESIA ITALY

JAPAN

MEXICO

POLAND RUSSIA

SAUDI ARABIA

SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH KOREA

SPAIN

SWEDEN

TURKEY

UNITED STATES

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Smoking Food

% ADULT POPULATION SMOKING

OUTRIGHT BAN

STR

ON

GLY

SU

PPO

RT/

TEN

D T

O S

UPP

OR

T

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The government should make the behaviour more difficult/more expensive. (Average over all four policy areas)

The wealthier the nation the less likely they are to favour government intervention

Base: c.500 - 1,000 residents aged 16-64 (18-64 in the US and Canada) in each country, November 2010 Source: Ipsos Global @dvisor; International Monetary Fund 2010

ARGENTINA

AUSTRALIA

BELGIUM

BRAZIL

CANADA

CHINA

FRANCE

GERMANY

UK

HUNGARY

INDIA

INDONESIA

ITALY JAPAN

MEXICO

POLAND

RUSSIA SAUDI ARABIA

SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH KOREA

SPAIN

SWEDEN

TURKEY

UNITED STATES

40%

45%

50%

55%

60%

65%

70%

75%

80%

85%

90%

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000 45,000 50,000

GDP PER CAPITA (PPP) (CURRENT INT'L $)

RESTRICTIONS

STR

ON

GLY

SU

PPO

RT/

TEN

D T

O S

UPP

OR

T R2 = 0.70

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A wealth paradox

High earners are more supportive of legislation than low earners

% Support by Household Income

Low Medium High

Food 50 53 56

Retirement 79 80 78

Environment 61 63 67

Smoking 76 80 83

Overall 66 69 71

RESTRICTIONS

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What, if anything, do you think government should do? Strongly support/tend to support. How confident do you feel in the way the Government of ... tackles the main problems facing the country?

Apart from those with extreme confidence in government, there is little correlation

Base: c.500 - 1,000 residents aged 16-64 (18-64 in the US and Canada) in each country, September 2010 (confidence), November 2010 (intervention) Source: Ipsos Global @dvisor

ARGENTINA

AUSTRALIA BELGIUM

BRAZIL

CANADA CHINA

FRANCE GERMANY

UK

HUNGARY INDIA

INDONESIA

ITALY JAPAN

MEXICO

POLAND

RUSSIA

SAUDI ARABIA

SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH KOREA

SPAIN

SWEDEN

TURKEY

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNMENT

BAN

OU

TRIG

HT

R² = 0.2544

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Countries with a higher inequality of power more supportive of prohibitive legislation

Base: c.500 - 1,000 residents aged 16-64 (18-64 in the US and Canada) in each country, November 2010. Source: Ipsos Global @dvisor; Hofstede Cultural Dimensions

INDIA

INDONESIA CHINA

RUSSIA

TURKEY

MEXICO ITALY

SOUTH KOREA

POLAND ARGENTINA BRAZIL

JAPAN SOUTH AFRICA HUNGARY

CANADA SPAIN AUSTRALIA FRANCE

BELGIUM UK

GERMANY

SWEDEN UNITED STATES

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

POWER DISTANCE INDEX

STR

ON

GLY

SU

PPO

RT/

TEN

D T

O S

UPP

OR

T

R2 = 0.5832

OUTRIGHT BAN

The government should ban the behaviour. (Average across all policy areas) Nb. PDIs for China, Hungary, Poland and Russia are estimate values; there is currently no individual PDI for Saudi Arabia.

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What have we learnt?

• What was striking was the extent to which people supported government intervention

• Public acceptability tends to fall as more freedoms are lost with some exceptions

• Clear and striking country differences

• It is issue dependent to a point

• Still a reaction to “nanny state”

• Influence of wealth is not straightforward

• Governmental system (power distance) may explain it

• We haven’t analysed fully is the extent to which these policies already exist in countries

• Definitions of government?

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Can measuring acceptability help determine where we are in a cycle?

TIME

PUB

LIC

SU

PPO

RT

Goodwin P. (2006) Cycle of Public Acceptability

Build-up of support as benefits appear

Fall-off as detail emerges

Sufficient support to go ahead

Increasing support for general idea

New idea, no justification

Panic just before implementation

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What does level of support tell us?

• There have been interventions that have been successful without public support and vice versa

• Acceptability is just one factor that needs to be considered • Consider public space smoking ban in China which is widely ignored

• A better concept might be how “prepared” the public are which includes acceptability but also:

• Recognition of an issue

• Understanding benefits/scale of the problem

• Belief in the effectiveness of the measure proposed

• Level of opposition

• Measuring acceptability should be seen as part of a cycle of change

• All of the above and more need to be considered to increase the effectiveness of an intervention

Behaviour Change: What role do we want governments to play? An international comparison

Economy & Finance

Transcript of Behaviour Change: What role do we want governments to play? An international comparison