Social referents and normative standards affect perceptions of livestock management behaviors

Abstract

Social influence impacts individuals’ behavior through norms–the perceived appropriateness of behaviors–and social referents, whose behavior is copied by others. Interventions using social influence may help promote conservation-friendly behaviors. We explored how perceptions are influenced by descriptive norms (what people do) and social referents (who does it) in relation to livestock management in Kenya. By presenting participants with vignettes describing different livestock management scenarios, we explored how two norms (‘high’ vs. ‘low’ standards of livestock management) and three social referents (‘neighbor,’ ‘leader,’ ‘father’) influence participants’ perceptions of aspects of livestock management. More senior social referents and ‘high’ standard norms were associated with greater impact on perceived importance of livestock management behaviors. Age also had an effect, with higher perceived importance and greater effect of norm treatment in younger respondents. Encouraging social seniors to model desired behavior may be a possible strategy for conservation behavioral interventions.