Variables that Mediate Behavioural Action

As noted earlier, Rothschild’s (1999) framework can be ordered along a ‘remedies continuum’ from least to most restrictive in terms of freedom of commercial speech and consumer choice. By using the least restrictive form of intervention according to the needs in the situation, regulators can balance freedom of choice with the responsibility of preventing harmful or unwanted externalities. Rothschild concluded the literature shows three variables mediate consumers’ predisposition to change their behaviour: motivation, ability, and opportunity (MAO). To simplify categorisation, consumers are grouped

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according to binary yes/no classifications, and different combinations classify people as inclined, resistant or unable to change (see Table 3). This analysis clarifies the

interventions that are most appropriate, depending on the initial MAO state.

Table 3 – Typology of circumstances in which to use Education, Marketing, or Law

Motivation Yes No Opportunity Yes No Yes No A bilit y Yes  Prone to behave Education  Unable to behave Marketing  Resistant Law  Resistant Marketing, Law No  Unable to behave Education, Marketing  Unable to behave Education, Marketing  Resistant Education, Marketing, Law  Resistant Education, Marketing, Law (Rothschild, 1999, p. 31)

Motivation, Ability, and Opportunity to Act

Motivation has often been defined as goal-directed arousal, and focuses on an

individual’s willingness to perform a specified behaviour (Moorman & Matulich, 1993). Many psychological theories are based on the assumption that individuals are motivated to achieve consequences that serve their self-interest (Rotter, 1954), and will therefore engage freely in actions that enhance wellbeing. However, these benefits need to be visible, highly probable, and experienced soon to have a motivating effect – health benefits from preventive actions often fail to meet these criteria (Rose, 1992).

Consumers are only likely to complete an action that produces desirable consequences, particularly in the short-term due to a tendency to prefer “…smaller but sooner rewards (SSRs) over larger but later rewards (LLRs)” (Foxall, 2007, p. x). Consequently, people are not commonly motivated to act in ways that require short-term sacrifices to achieve

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long-term benefits (Ellen, Bone, & Wiener, 2003), a situation that characterises health behaviours such as prudent dietary choices and exercise regimes.

Motivation is a ‘hygiene factor’: necessary, but not sufficient. People typically require access to certain resources and a minimum level of skill or proficiency to complete a given action (Moorman & Matulich, 1993), thus natural or acquired abilities also mediate behaviour change attempts. That is, consumers need to have a sufficient

knowledge structure in order to process and interpret information intended to affect their behaviour (MacInnis & Jaworski, 1989). Perceptions of self-efficacy also affect

attempts at behaviour change (Bandura, 1977); when consumers perceive they lack ability they are deterred from trying, which manifests as reduced motivation.

However, even high motivation and ability levels are not enough to facilitate action if the environmental circumstances are not conducive to change: opportunity is another

prerequisite for encouraging behaviour change (Rothschild, 1999). The facilities and resources at consumers’ disposal either provide opportunities or create barriers to action. For example, availability of and access to recreation and exercise facilities, such as cycle-ways, footpaths, gyms, and swimming pools, is correlated with physical activity levels (Gordon-Larsen, Nelson, Page, & Popkin, 2006; Humpel, Owen, & Leslie, 2002). As Goldberg and Gunasti (2007) note, interventions to improve consumers’ motivation and ability to seek out more healthy food are worthless if access to better foods is limited. Distractions and time-pressures are two variables that researchers have

identified as reducing people’s opportunity to engage with information (MacInnis et al., 1991); when these are present, consumers are more apt to rely on the most readily accessible or interpretable information (Petty & Cacioppo, 1984b, 1986a).

As shown in Table 3, Rothschild (1999) states that the three intervention strategies will be more or less useful according to the target audience’s mix of motivation, ability and opportunity to act. Those seeking to modify behaviour can either determine where in the table consumers fall and tailor a strategy to that cell, or seek to influence consumers’ levels of motivation and ability, thereby making them more likely to respond to education or marketing interventions. For example, Rothschild suggests that when consumers lack motivation, it may be possible for education to slightly increase

motivation by making some people aware of benefits that already exist but that they had not considered. Marketing can be used to increase consumers’ motivation by creating

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new reinforcing consequences that accord with consumers’ self-interested outlook6_.

However, when neither education nor marketing interventions can arouse consumers’ motivation, then it will be necessary for regulators to use the law to enjoin change. Likewise, some simple abilities may be acquired by consumers via education

interventions, by teaching skills or providing knowledge that allows consumers to take advantage of existing opportunities. Marketing interventions may consider product usability and seek to modify the environment so that lower ability levels are not a barrier to change. When ability to process complex information is constrained by time, one option is to use stimuli that consumers can process quickly and holistically. Advertising researchers found that consumers can process visual information holistically and

simultaneously, which suggests that “…low opportunity consumers can encode fairly complex feature interactions presented by a picture in little time” (MacInnis et al., 1991, p. 39). When such tactics are employed, whether via marketing or legal interventions, environmental modifications create new opportunities without requiring changes in consumers’ ability.

The food and media industries have argued that consumers “…want to make their own choices about what they eat and believe in being personally responsible for those choices” (FIG, 2006d, ¶ 4). This statement suggests the FIG believes consumers are motivated to look after their health and that of their families, and that this includes buying nutritious foods and eating healthy diets. Furthermore, consumers have the opportunity to do so because foods of differing nutritional profiles exist in the market place. However, a lack of quality information at the point of purchase means that many lack the ability to recognise which foods are better or differentiate between competing offerings within product categories, matching the situation in cell 5 in Table 3 (page 36). Rothschild (1999) suggests that opportunities to act are a structural feature of the

consumption environment, which is typically beyond the immediate control of individual consumers, but that can be provided through marketing or legal interventions.

Conversely, motivation and ability are latent variables attributed to consumers’ personal cognitive states and skill sets, and motivation, in particular, is determined by internal constructs such as beliefs and attitudes. The view that cognitive attributes such as

6 _S

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attitudes predict and explain why people behave as they do is a fundamental assumption underpinning dominant consumer behaviour theories, and is examined in the next chapter.

2.5.5 Summary

There are three broad interventions available to policy makers wishing to influence consumers’ behaviour: marketing solutions based on exchange theory to shape behaviour; education solutions that inform people of options and consequences; and regulations that define acceptable behaviours and business practices. However, the different classes of intervention vary in effectiveness according to the specific

characteristics of each problem, the choice environment and the target population. The type (or combinations) of intervention required in response to a given social problem depends on consumers’ personal motivation and ability to change, as well as the

opportunities to engage in healthy behaviours afforded by the choice environment. Food industry representatives argue that most consumers are motivated to make healthy choices but many are presently lack the ability to do so because information available at the point of purchase does not clearly identify the attributes of competing products. Thus, they regard enhanced information disclosures as the appropriate intervention solution.