There are countless innovative mobility solutions in development, but only a few ultimately have real social impact. One of the biggest bottlenecks is that no matter how good the solution is, without behavioral change, it is doomed to fail. Researcher Berfu Ünal sheds light from a psychological perspective on behavioral change, and shares five academic findings on how to scale up mobility innovations.
“It is encouraging that we are inundated with so many technological innovations that promise to reduce our impact on the environment. But they are meaningless if people don’t actually accept and ultimately use these innovations,” says Berfu Ünal, associate professor of Social and Environmental Psychology at the University of Groningen and coordinator of the SMiLES living lab for mobility innovations.
Ünal: “That’s why our research focuses not only on the technology itself, but primarily on people. What prevents people from embracing new technology? And, more importantly, how do we remove those barriers? Only when people are willing to go along with the times can innovations really make a difference. The basic idea is that behavior always takes place within a context. In our research, we look at how you can design that context so that people will accept and more easily use new technologies. Without the right context, change will never happen.”
Ünal shares five observations about scaling up mobility innovations with hive.mobility magazine, based on two recent scientific studies.
#1 Keep it simple
“Innovations can be as sustainable, smart, or cost-effective as you like, but if they are not practical in everyday life, people will lose interest. That is one of the conclusions from a study into community car sharing in rural and suburban areas that was conducted within SMiLES, in collaboration with the organization Natuur & Milieu.
For this study, around ten households shared a few cars for a year. They could use an app to reserve the car, for example, but other practical matters had to be sorted out in person. It turned out that people found several practical matters, such as key transfer and cleaning, very inconvenient. Above all, they want comfort, predictability, and convenience. Even if they support car sharing ideologically, in practice, they drop out if it’s a hassle.
#2 Tailor to target groups
“Young people, parents with children, the elderly and commuters all have different needs and limitations when it comes to mobility. Solutions that are perfect for one person may not work, or at least not work well enough, for someone else.
In the car sharing survey, some participants indicated that they were reluctant to give up their own car and switch to car sharing because certain needs were not being met, such as the availability of a child seat. Without differentiation in design and communication, you can end up unintentionally exclude certain groups. Each target group has its own specific needs, so bear the daily reality of the different user groups in mind.
#3 Change cost perceptions
What stood out in the car sharing study was that it is not the actual price, but the perception that the price per trip is quite high, that influences behavior. Although the shared cars were subsidized and obviously cheaper than owning a car, after a year, some participants said they saw car sharing as being more expensive.
The visibility of costs in the app had a significant psychological impact, whereas the fixed costs of car ownership that you would normally have turned out to be much less important in terms of cost perception. This price perception must be actively influenced in communications about mobility innovations.
If that misperception of price is not corrected, an affordable solution may still be perceived as too expensive, which slows down adoption. Ultimately, it turned out that, out of the approximately 30 participants in the community car sharing study, only two people were willing to give up their own car, and a few participants were undecided. It just goes to show how deeply rooted car ownership is and how difficult it is to bring about behavioral change, even when people are positive about shared mobility.”
#4 Focus on early adopters first
“Research shows that when there are more early adopted of a technology, innovations are embraced more quickly and by more people. That makes them a crucial group for breakthroughs and scaling up.
But what motivates people to adopt an innovation at an early stage? In our research into connected automated vehicles (CAVs), which we conducted outside the SMiLES program, we investigated which psychological factors influence the adoption of fully automated vehicles.
Status acquisition proved to be an important motivator, but only in the early stages of CAV rollout – and especially when people thought that few others would be using them. This is also known as the signaling function: by embracing a new technology, you can stand out in the crowd and show others what kind of person you are. My advice is to actively use status motives in campaigns to get as many early adopters on board as possible.”
#5 Build trust slowly
“This insight is particularly relevant for technologies that can threaten people’s sense of security and control: you have to build their trust one step at a time. An important finding of the CAV study is that some people are very wary of errors, loss of control, and potential system hacks. If people feel they are losing control or are at risk, they will avoid the technology, regardless of how useful or efficient it may be.
Trust is therefore necessary for adoption, especially with technologies where security, control, and predictability are key. Don’t throw people in at the deep end: take the time to slowly build up their trust, for example by starting with safe pilots, ensuring that people have positive experiences, providing explanations, and ensuring predictability.”
This story was originally published by hive.mobility in their online magazine.
