Audience segmentation approach to conservation messaging for transforming the exotic pet trade

• Published in: Conservation biology 2024-08, Vol.38 (4), p.e14267-n/a
• Main Authors: Naito, Rumi, Chan, Kai M. A., López de la Lama, Rocío, Zhao, Jiaying
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: acción cívica colectiva; Behavior modification; cambio conductual; Collective action; collective civic action; conservación de fauna; Fauna; global wildlife trade; Image processing; intervención en el encuadre del mensaje; mercado mundial de fauna; message framing intervention; Messages; mixed methods; métodos mixtos; Nature conservation; Pets; proambiental; proenvironmental behavior change; prueba aleatoria controlada; randomized controlled trial; relational values; Segmentation; Segments; valores de relación; Wildlife conservation; 信息框架干预; 全球野生动物贸易; 关系价值观; 混合方法; 环保行为改变; 野生动物保护; 随机对照试验; 集体公民行动
• ISSN: 0888-8892; 1523-1739; 1523-1739
• DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14267

Advancing transformative change for sustainability requires population‐wide behavior change. Yet, many behavioral interventions tackling environmental problems only examine average effects on the aggregate, overlooking the heterogeneous effects in a population. We developed and preregistered a novel audience segmentation approach to test the diverse impact of conservation messaging on reducing demand for exotic pets (private action ‐ i.e., desire to own exotic pets or visit wildlife entertainment places) and fostering citizen engagement for system‐wide change (civic action ‐ e.g., signing a petition or participating in a protest against the exotic pet trade). Through an online survey with US participants (n = 2953), we identified 4 population segments (early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards), representing varying levels of commitment to wildlife conservation and then randomly assigned each segment to one of 3 messaging conditions. Messages highlighting negative consequences of the exotic pet trade and the power of collective action for system change effectively promoted private action among all segments except early adopters (ηp2 = 0.005). Among civic actions, only the collective action message motivated early adopters and the early majority to sign petitions (φC = 0.193 and φC = 0.097, respectively). Furthermore, the 4 segments showed distinct reasoning for action and inaction on wildlife conservation, with certain relational values, such as care, serving as both motivations and barriers to action. These findings highlight the need for targeted behavioral interventions across diverse populations. Estrategia de segmentación del público en los mensajes de conservación para transformar el mercado de mascotas exóticas Resumen El progreso en el cambio transformativo para la sustentabilidad requiere de cambios conductuales a nivel poblacional. Sin embargo, muchas intervenciones conductuales que abordan los problemas ambientales sólo analizan los efectos promedio sobre el agregado, lo que ignora los efectos heterogéneos sobre la población. Desarrollamos y preinscribimos una estrategia novedosa de segmentación del público para evaluar los diversos impactos de los mensajes de conservación sobre la reducción de la demanda de mascotas exóticas (acción privada [es decir, el deseo de poseer mascotas exóticas o visitar sitios de entretenimiento con fauna] y promover la participación ciudadana para un cambio sistémico [por ejemplo, firmar una petici