Rosabeth Moss Kanter rightly says " culture is the hardest thing to change, whether ethics in the financial system or the eating habits of individuals. That's because change is not a decision like appointing a new CEO, nor is it an event like winning an election. Change is an ongoing campaign." She argued for five elements than can bring change but the last one is relevant to our subject i-e bringing a change in behaviors.
It is " like marketing campaigns that require point of sale support, successful behavior change campaigns need to place reminders at the point of action - the moment of truth when behavior is set in motion." This constant reminder theory is also mentioned by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
The Wall Street Journal reports on another study showing that reminding (some call it nagging) has its virtues - this time for exercising. As part of the study, one group of people received a weekly phone call from a human asking them how much exercise they'd gotten that week and congratulating them if they had met a personal goal. Another group got a similar call from an automated system. A third group got no call.
After 12 months, participants receiving calls from a live person were exercising, as a mean, about 178 minutes a week, above government recommendations for 150 minutes a week. That represented a 78% jump from about 100 minutes a week at the start of the study. Exercise levels for the group receiving computerized calls doubled to 157 minutes a week. A control group of participants, who received no phone calls, exercised 118 minutes a week, up 28% from the study's start. "When you knew you were going to have to report back on what you had done, it motivated you," says Ms. Lowe.
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