4. Behaviour and empowerment

4.1 Introduction

In order for a transition to succeed, a behavioural change is often required; for example to eat less meat or to fly less. And to do so, people must be able to make conscious choices and take control, but also in others, in addition to the citizen or consumer, behavioural change may be necessary to achieve transitions. For example, at the care provider (who needs to discuss nutrition, rather than medicine), or the retailer who has to switch to a different proposition, or a teacher who will provide sustainability education. The context in which behaviour is established is a reason for favoring certain behavioural alternatives over others. This context is colored by customs, individual beliefs, social norms and practices, as well as by the design of environment, information and products. Consider, for example, how information on packaging, but also the presentation of healthy or unhealthy snacks in a school canteen, and even of these choices being available at all, can influence the food choice.

KEMs in this category can help determine the target group and other stakeholders that play a role in the transition, map current (undesirable) behaviour, and determine the behaviour that needs to be changed (the so-called 'target behaviour '). In addition, KEMs in this category help develop, test and validate an intervention. In this context, an intervention is any (orchestration of) design of services, means of communication or (digital) products that aims to change behaviour. Interventions can be overt and explicit, aimed at strengthening knowledge or changing attitudes, but can also be less overt and use more implicit influencing strategies such as framing or nudging. Finally, KEMs in this category can also be aimed at mobilising and activating change processes by citizens themselves: citizen empowerment. They answer questions such as: what type and what degree of influence is desirable and morally acceptable? How do you set up mechanisms that enable individuals to take control of their own actions and / or to take action together to bring about change in society?