EPA Project to Behaviour Change Project: Stage 2. Improving compliance outcomes

This report presents the findings from the second stage of pilot research commissioned by EPA Victoria (EPA) to explore how to achieve better environmental compliance outcomes with Victorian businesses. The research was conducted by Monash University's BehaviourWorks Australia (BWA) and RMIT University's Beyond Behaviour Change (BBC) research program. In Stage 1 of this research BWA and BBC investigated the behaviours of, and practices performed by, EPA's Environment Protection Officers (EPOs) in enforcing environment protection laws. This second stage sheds light on another part of the compliance picture by exploring the factors influencing business behaviours (BWA) and the practices businesses perform (BBC) in order to comply with environment protection laws. Stage 2 focused on two sectors: electroplaters and fuel retail businesses. The two research teams drew on different theoretical approaches, behaviour change (BWA) and social practices (BBC), to conduct interviews with businesses from both of these sectors. A total of 19 interviews were conducted with a mix of small independent businesses, larger companies, and franchises (12 electroplaters and 7 fuel retail businesses or their consultants). Data were analysed using the two research team's theoretical approaches. BWA drew on behaviour change theory to explore the motives, capabilities, and responses that influence business compliance behaviours and outcomes. BBC drew on social practice theory to identify the environmental compliance and everyday practices businesses perform, and the competences, skills and materials implicated in those practices. The exploratory nature of this research necessitated a small sample size, and the research design aimed to deliver maximum insight into the target business groups