Engaging Hairdressers in Pro-Environmental Behaviours

Despite efforts to raise awareness of the challenges of sustainable development and environmental issues, such as depleting oil reserves, toxic waste, climate change and water shortages, individual behaviour has been slow to change.

The proposed study explores the efficacy of an innovative bottom-up social marketing approach to encourage pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) using hairdressers as 'catalytic individuals' to diffuse knowledge and practices relating to responsible chemical, energy and water use across their social networks. Hairdressers use a lot of energy, water and chemicals, but our research last year (Baden, 2010) indicated that, despite the increased concerns and public pronouncements on the importance of sustainability, little awareness has filtered into the hairdressing sector. This lack of attention to environmental issues by hairdressers then constitutes a social norm that is antagonistic to sustainability awareness, especially hair-washing, drying and colouring, which are activities that are also carried out at home. Thus the study aims to engage hairdressers, both in developing their own PEBs, and as 'catalytic individuals' to help perpetrate more pro-environmental social norms across their social networks.

The proposed study will be in the form of action research:

Action: Selected hairdressers will be interviewed to assess their current sustainability practices and extent to which they provide a model of PEBs (e.g. reduced toxicity of hair products, water conservation, low use of energy in terms of drying and style) either through their practices or through their conversations with customers. Our pilot research found zero examples of such environmental awareness, but a willingness to engage with the topic further.

Twenty five hairdressers will then be invited to an event to raise awareness of environmental issues in their work and encouraged to come up with their own ideas to reduce environmental impacts. We plan to create positive attitudes towards the project by making the event fun, with good refreshments and inspirational speakers, and offering free samples of eco-friendly products. A follow up event will be held four months later to share what worked and what didn't and engage the hairdressers in developing best practice benchmarks for their industry, and to enable them to attain the Steps Towards Environmental Management (STEM) certification. We plan to hold two events and two follow-up events, with a total sample size of 50 hairdressers.

The research part of the action research will look at how hairdressers can be used to disseminate information about PEBs to the general public. Social networking theory proposes that information is best disseminated by weak ties (Granovetter, 1973). Diffusion of Innovations theory explores social networks and their role in influencing the spread of new ideas and practices. Of all occupations, hairdressers spend the most time generally chatting to a wide variety of people and comprise a weak tie for many. The research plans to explore the extent to which hairdressers involved in the development of environmental benchmarks talk to their customers and other colleagues about sustainability and act as a diffuser of information and practice on PEBs in areas related to the use of water, electricity and chemicals.

This is a cross disciplinary proposal which brings some of the theoretical insights from the disparate areas of network modeling (social network theory, diffusion theory); social psychology (e.g. self-determination theory, social learning theory, social norms) and marketing (word of mouth marketing, social marketing, catalytic individuals) and sustainability management together in one project that has real potential, both to transform a particular sector, and to test the efficacy of developing a more innovative and bottom-up approach to social marketing to address our urgent need for a transition to a low carbon economy.

This research helps in meeting the targets set by the UK Government (Dec 2008) to reduce emissions by 80% below the 1990 levels by 2050. Directly, as the aim is to enable the hairdressing sector to reduce their environmental impact in terms of reducing consumption of energy, water and toxic chemicals. We also expect a more long-term effect in terms of developing social norms of pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) in the wider population. There are also indirect impacts as we aim to determine the most effective strategies to enable SMEs to reduce their environmental impact and to explore the efficacy of a bottom up social marketing approach to PEB.

Learning outcomes from the project will assist policy makers at Global, European, National and local level to design effective initiatives to promote PEB. For example, this bottom-up social marketing approach could also be extended to include other individuals who, by virtue of their wide and diverse social network based on their occupation, are in a position to model and thus 'norm' PEBs relevant to their areas of practice (e.g. taxi-drivers).

The participating hairdressers benefit not just through cost savings, but through reputation enhancement, increased attractiveness to customers who value sustainable companies, positive employee responses and staying ahead of the increasing body of environmental regulation. In particular they will gain membership of the SE Business Carbon Hub and attain the Steps to Environmental Management (STEM) environmental certification which is specifically designed for SMEs. Working with other community groups also increases social capital and networking opportunities which can be key factors in local business success (Granovetter, 1985, Fuller 2006).

The SE Carbon Hub and Kent County Council who run STEM benefit from meeting their targets to recruit small businesses.

Participating hairdressers will be encouraged to share their experiences with other businesses via their personal contacts and networking groups, so that other businesses can also benefit indirectly as useful advice and information is fed into the business network. Other SMEs will benefit from the outputs of this project such as the online sustainable business pack (supplied via Sustainable Business Partnership) which will disseminate information and ideas regarding sustainable business practice.

Suppliers of eco-friendly hair products will benefit through increased sales.

The local community will benefit from reduced pollution and waste achieved as a result of the project.

Hairdressers are at increased risk of certain cancers and skin conditions due to the toxicity of many hair products (Gube et al, 2011; Harling et al., 2010), and therefore benefit from decreased health risks as they switch to less toxic products.

Customers of participating hairdressers benefit from exposure to more pro-environmental practices in the context of hair care, which may enable them to identify less toxic products for their own use, with corresponding health benefits, and cost benefits relating to decreased energy and water consumption.

Central hairdressing organisations (e.g. the Hairdressing Council, HABIA) have offered their support to the project, in terms of attending the events, disseminating information, knowledge and ideas about sustainability through their newsletters and networks, and incorporating best practice guidelines into any relevant training initiatives or educational materials. Those involved in training hairdressers will thus have access to information on PEBs and guidelines specific to hairdressing, mediated through these bodies, specifically HABIA which is the government approved standards setting body for the hair and beauty sector. Highbury College will assist in incorporating learning outcomes into their training courses. This increases the impact as new pro-environmental practices will spread through the sector through improved training programmes.