Using Behavioural Science to Improve the Management of Invasive Animals: A Domestic Cat Case Study

Abstract

<p>Invasive animals are a worldwide problem and people’s actions play an integral part in whether management outcomes succeed or fail. Human behavioural science has an important role to play by providing theoretical and methodological insights to facilitate human behaviour change. The primary goal of this thesis was to understand how these behavioural science approaches could add value to invasive animal management (IAM) intervention designs to improve the adoption of best-practice management strategies.</p> <p>The thesis begins by examining current behavioural science approaches to determine their applicability in designing interventions to encourage participation and sustained behaviour change towards IAM programs. Due to the overwhelming number of behaviour theories and theoretical constructs, a range of relevant theories were selected, then decomposed and reintegrated into a single framework. This framework, based on capability, opportunity and motivation, simplifies the understanding and selection of appropriate intervention strategies and policies.</p> <p>To demonstrate how these theoretical principles can be practically applied in the IAM context, a case study focusing on domestic cat management was used. This species was selected as it is one of the world’s worst invasive mammal species, and management programs rely on a diverse range of community members adopting appropriate behaviours to achieve successful outcomes. The case study commenced with an evaluation of the behavioural effectiveness of recent cat management interventions to highlight how they could be potentially improved. It then applied the key principles of intervention development guided by insights from the behavioural literature: (1) clearly specifying the behaviour to be changed and the target audience, (2) identifying the main determinants underlying this behaviour, (3) selecting appropriate intervention techniques to target relevant behaviours and their determinants, and (4) evaluating the impacts of interventions on the behaviour itself, and its main determinants.</p> <p>As a result of this process the full-time containment of pet cats was selected as the targeted behaviour. A random digit-dial survey was used to identify key drivers and barriers influencing the capacity, opportunity and motivation of cat owners to contain their cats. Main factors identified included owner’s beliefs about their ability to implement an effective containment strategy and their views about the physical and psychological needs of their cats. These results informed the development of an innovative digital engagement intervention, which incorporated a welfare-framed persuasive message (‘happy at home’). The effectiveness of this intervention, compared to a more traditional ‘wildlife-impact’ framed message, was evaluated using a randomised control experiment. Mediation analysis showed that both messages (relative to a neutral control message) increased motivation and response efficacy to contain one’s cat. In turn, higher levels of motivation and response efficacy predicted the intentions of cat owners to adopt containment practices, as well as the actual adoption of containment practices. Higher levels of motivation also predicted the seeking of further information on cat containment practices. </p> <p>These findings highlight that there is value in applying the more sophisticated behavioural approaches to intervention design. An important challenge for IAM practitioners will be to improve their understanding of the factors and processes that influence individual’s participation decisions so they can select appropriate behaviour change interventions to achieve their objectives. To assist in this process, an integrative framework (the BIDE system) is presented, to guide future IAM intervention development.</p>