Injunctive norms, age, and species-specific framing increase outdoor recreationists’ intentions to follow conservation requests made on signs

Injunctive norms, age, and species-specific framing increase outdoor recreationists’ intentions to follow conservation requests made on signs | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Injunctive norms, age, and species-specific framing increase outdoor recreationists’ intentions to follow conservation requests made on signs Amber Cowans, Darragh Hare, Xavier Lambin, Kenny Kortland, Chris Sutherland This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9150299/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract 1. Natural landscapes shared by people and wildlife often rely on signage to guide people toward behaviours that protect nature, where the justification and framing of these requests may influence how people interpret and respond to them. 2. We conducted a factorial vignette experiment with 600 frequent outdoor recreationists living in Scotland stratified by age, gender and dog ownership to test the influence of specific sign features on recreationists’ intentions to follow three behavioural requests: keeping dogs on leads, staying on designated trails and avoiding sensitive areas, whilst measuring their perceptions of whether they found requests reasonable. We systematically varied requests by highlighting what the majority of other recreationists do (descriptive norms; “nine out of ten people do…”) or requesting the appropriate behaviour outright (injunctive norms; “please do…”), and by justifying requests for either single-species conservation, general biodiversity conservation, or for self and pet safety. 3. Overall, we found high intentions of recreationists to follow the three behavioural requests, which varied significantly across our experimental conditions and with participant age. 4. Injunctive norms outperformed descriptive norms. Requests using descriptive norms were seen as less reasonable and had lower intentions of being followed than those directly requesting the behaviour. 5. Species-specific requests outperformed biodiversity and self-interest requests, but their success varied by age group. Requests justified for the conservation of a locally iconic umbrella species (Western Capercaillie, Tetrao urogallus ) were perceived as more reasonable and had higher intentions of being followed in older adults, whilst request justification did not significantly affect the perceptions or behavioural intentions of adults aged 18-34. 6. Our findings show that the way behavioural requests are framed and justified on signs matters for encouraging voluntary pro-environmental behaviour in shared landscapes. Messages that emphasise locally meaningful species and communicate clear behavioural expectations are more likely to improve overall voluntary cooperation and support more sustainable interactions between outdoor recreationists and wildlife. human-wildlife interactions outdoor recreation pro-environmental behaviour protected area management Scottish outdoor access code shifting baseline syndrome social norms species conservation Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9150299","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":607702123,"identity":"c0839875-f5b3-4f3e-99b2-21ec356e3ad7","order_by":0,"name":"Amber 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Natural landscapes shared by people and wildlife often rely on signage to guide people toward behaviours that protect nature, where the justification and framing of these requests may influence how people interpret and respond to them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. We conducted a factorial vignette experiment with 600 frequent outdoor recreationists living in Scotland stratified by age, gender and dog ownership to test the influence of specific sign features on recreationists’ intentions to follow three behavioural requests: keeping dogs on leads, staying on designated trails and avoiding sensitive areas, whilst measuring their perceptions of whether they found requests reasonable. We systematically varied requests by highlighting what the majority of other recreationists do (descriptive norms; “nine out of ten people do…”) or requesting the appropriate behaviour outright (injunctive norms; “please do…”), and by justifying requests for either single-species conservation, general biodiversity conservation, or for self and pet safety.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. Overall, we found high intentions of recreationists to follow the three behavioural requests, which varied significantly across our experimental conditions and with participant age.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4. Injunctive norms outperformed descriptive norms. Requests using descriptive norms were seen as less reasonable and had lower intentions of being followed than those directly requesting the behaviour.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e5. Species-specific requests outperformed biodiversity and self-interest requests, but their success varied by age group. Requests justified for the conservation of a locally iconic umbrella species (Western Capercaillie, \u003cem\u003eTetrao urogallus\u003c/em\u003e) were perceived as more reasonable and had higher intentions of being followed in older adults, whilst request justification did not significantly affect the perceptions or behavioural intentions of adults aged 18-34.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e6. Our findings show that the way behavioural requests are framed and justified on signs matters for encouraging voluntary pro-environmental behaviour in shared landscapes. 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