Integrated behavioural change in practice
Humans have been fishing for at least 70,000 years which means that fishers, and the communities who depend upon their work, have many deep-rooted needs, behaviours, and attitudes. For those interested in behavioural change and the strategies we can employ to engage with these communities, it is a fascinating sector to work with.
The UK's Marine Management Organisation (MMO) approached ICF looking for ways to explore the engagement needs of fishers and fisher communities, and to use a behavioural approach to identify the barriers to those needs. In the context of a historically strained relationship, the MMO is now committed to developing stronger relationships with stakeholders, particularly fishers, by fostering collaboration, shared objectives, and joint stewardship. This was the perfect opportunity to use our Integrated Model of Behaviour to identify participation barriers that span the whole length of the behavioural pathway.
Here is a quick reminder of what the model is, how it differs from previous approaches, and the benefits it can bring.
A holistic approach to behavioural change
ICF’s Integrated Model of Behaviour redefines how we approach and understand behavioural change. Unlike traditional frameworks, which often compartmentalise behaviour into isolated motivations or economic incentives, this Integrated Model weaves together multiple theories, creating a more holistic and nuanced view of what drives people’s actions.
Traditionally, consultants will take a siloed approach, leaning on the behavioural change theory that they are most familiar with. For some, that might mean looking at using economic levers, analysing the psychology of an individual's motivation, or offering behavioural insights such as “nudging.” These are limited and piecemeal approaches that often miss the fundamental drivers of behaviour. In turn, this can lead to policies and interventions that do not fully address those drivers.
Our Integrated Model is different. It allows us to consider the full behavioural pathway—from initial motivation and choice to the influences of feedback loops and contextual factors—and it provides a comprehensive map for designing interventions that resonate on multiple levels.
The tangible benefit of this is that rather than focusing on single, sometimes disconnected aspects, the model enables policymakers and practitioners to see the bigger picture. They are then able to create impactful interventions that address all of the relevant factors influencing behaviour, creating a more robust, adaptive approach to behavioural change.
From environmental policies to community engagement, the model’s flexibility and depth make it a powerful tool across sectors.
The Integrated Model in action
Our use of the Integrated Model of Behaviour for the MMO is a powerful example of how effective it can be when it is applied to real-world challenges.
We focused on four key elements that form a structured approach to understanding and influencing behaviours across the entire pathway:
- Motivation encompasses both conscious and unconscious factors that drive behaviour.
- Choice centres on the options available to individuals and the decision-making process.
- Execution addresses the process of carrying out a choice, which can vary in difficulty.
- Outcome covers two dimensions—the immediate experience of performing the behaviour, including physical and emotional responses, and the impact or result of the behaviour. Often goal-oriented, outcomes are what ultimately matter to individuals, shaping whether they repeat the behaviour.
Another component, feedback, links outcome back to motivation and choice. This loop allows outcomes to influence future motivation and choices, explaining behaviour changes over time and reinforcing or reducing the likelihood of repeating certain behaviours based on previous experiences.
Crucially, each of these phases incorporates elements of traditional behavioural change theories. For example, motivation contains elements of the capacity, opportunity, and motivation (COM-B) model. Choice is more aligned to the “classical economics” approach to behaviour change, with a focus on cost benefit. Execution meanwhile contains aspects of the “behavioural science/economics” approaches.
While the traditional, more siloed approach would often focus only on one of the first three sections of the pathway, our Integrated Model looks at all three and offers powerful interventions to challenge barriers that narrower approaches would have missed. The outcome and feedback elements are unique to the Integrated Model, as they look at how the behaviour feels, what its impact is, and how it feeds back to motivation and choice.
As a result of using the model, we recommended that the MMO implement and evaluate diverse interventions including:
- Build trust: Reframe MMO’s public image through communication to increase general trust.
- Emphasise impact: Ensure consultations influence decision-making and communicate these impacts clearly.
- Enhance cost-benefit: Consider financial compensation, align consultations with other events, and add incentives like VAT advice.
- Improve accessibility: Schedule consultations at convenient times and/or locations, offer refreshments, and design accessible, appealing invitations.
- Continuous evaluation: Test each solution thoroughly, refining or discontinuing ineffective approaches based on results.
In addition, we recommended further research to help deepen MMO’s understanding of the barriers, including assessing their front-line staff’s attitudes toward fishers, evaluating marine enforcement officers’ approach, and conducting surveys with fishers to gauge the prevalence of barriers, especially those preventing attendance at consultation events.
Our recommendations aimed to encourage meaningful engagement, making consultations more accessible and impactful for fishers. The final report, “Fisher Engagement Capacity Needs,” has now been published and is available online.
Addressing barriers to change
The benefits of our Integrated Model are clearly demonstrated by our work with MMO. With a comprehensive understanding of the range of relevant barriers faced by fishers and fishing communities, the MMO can now take a more strategic, and potentially more cost efficient, approach to driving behavioural change. It can address the right obstacles for maximum impact and target spending on the barriers that affect the most people. We believe that some expensive interventions fail, not because they are ineffective, but because they do not address all relevant barriers.
The Integrated Model of Behaviour offers a breakthrough in designing impactful interventions by examining the full pathway of behaviour change—from motivation to outcome and feedback. The model has the power to uncover the deeper, interconnected barriers within specific communities, such as fishers, whose actions and choices are rooted in long-standing cultural, economic, and social factors. Our collaboration with the MMO demonstrates that the model’s adaptability is invaluable in creating targeted, meaningful engagement strategies that address the complexities of human behaviour.