Selecting the most promising behaviour change interventions for field experimentation

Robust pre-testing protocols can help researchers select the most promising behaviour change interventions to test in field experiments. We add to an existing pre-testing protocol by outlining the importance of (1) scrutinising “neutral” stimuli and (2) accounting for different pools of participants. We test the full pre-testing protocol in the context of farm tourism. Specifically, we test theory-driven messages to increase water-saving intentions during a hypothetical farm stay for Australian participants (Study 1) and participants from the UK (Study 2). While all messages increased intentions to save water compared to no message, theory-derived messages did not outperform neutral appeals. We also found cultural differences. Our findings emphasize the importance of pre-testing intervention materials and help guide behaviour scientists in tourism research on how to select interventions for field experiments. This research further offers an overview of promising interventions to entice water saving in farm tourism.