CALL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS: IDENTIFYING PREDICTORS AND AUDIENCES FOR COLLECTIVE CLIMATE ACTION

Author

Nathan Scott BenderFollow

Year of Award

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Name

Resource Conservation

Department or School/College

College of Forestry and Conservation

Committee Chair

Dr. Alexander L. Metcalf

Committee Co-chair

Dr. Justin Angle

Commitee Members

Dr. Elizabeth C. Metcalf Dr. John Chandler

Keywords

climate change, collective climate action, elected officials, predictive modeling, audience segmentation

Publisher

University of Montana

Subject Categories

Civic and Community Engagement | Other Communication | Other Political Science | Politics and Social Change | Public Relations and Advertising

Abstract

Influential climate action in the United States is beyond the scope of individual actions, and instead requires collective action. This challenges governmental agencies and NGOs to promote enough collective action to inspire systemic change. Though decades of social research have identified broad trends in the drivers of this collective climate action, predictors of specific actions vary across individuals and contexts, and existing theory does not fully account for these shifting relative contributions. Additionally, the scale and urgency at which we must address climate change requires understanding and motivating climate action at all scales, from broad trends to predictors of specific action. Contacting elected officials to urge climate action is one such example of a climate collective action problem, because one call is unlikely to inspire change, but enough calls might. To facilitate efficient promotion of this climate action, I analyzed a national sample of U.S. adults to identify predictors for contacting elected officials about climate change and used these results to create behaviorally-oriented audience segments. I discuss how these analyses inform strategies for targeting unique groups with tailored communications to more effectively achieve climate action at systemic scales.

Recommended Citation

Bender, Nathan Scott, "CALL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS: IDENTIFYING PREDICTORS AND AUDIENCES FOR COLLECTIVE CLIMATE ACTION" (2022). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 11915.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/11915