Survey identifies behavioural science practitioner knowledge and skills gap
Practitioners don’t know what they don’t know about behavioural science. A toolkit from Lynn PR aims to close the gap.
The Capability Barrier is a behavioural science concept that prevents a person from undertaking an activity because they do not possess the necessary awareness, knowledge, or skills.
The key finding from Lynn PR’s The BS Monitor Survey is that while there is some general understanding of the importance of behavioural science in the communications and PR industry, that knowledge is not deep, and behavioural science methodologies are not being used strategically.
Behavioural science is a cross-disciplinary science that brings together methods from a variety of fields and disciplines to understand how people behave. It encompasses behavioural economics, psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy.
Practitioner behavioural science skills gap
Lynn PR asked practitioners to give a subjective rating of their behavioural science knowledge, and how consistently they use that knowledge in their workplaces. 78 people participated in the study, 59% of who reported as senior practitioners, and 28% as mid-level.
87% of respondents said that they had come across the field, with roughly 30% stating they hold knowledge of the field and use it either sometimes or consistently in their daily work.
When Lynn PR asked practitioners to identify behavioural science techniques from a short vignette, only 10% of respondents scored full marks. This could be as low as 2.5% when accounting for controls.
This is an example of a behavioural science concept called the Dunning-Kruger Effect, whereby people overestimate their knowledge and ability.
More than half of practitioners believe that behavioural science is set to become increasingly important in public relations practice, however lack of capability and budgets are barriers to adoption.
The study shows the huge opportunity for education about the benefits of applying behavioural science to communications practice, and the results that can be achieved. Behavioural science can help create marketing and communications strategies that are far more precise, efficient, and predictable.
The COVID-19 pandemic showed us that it is more important than ever to identify, and break down, the barriers that prevent PR and comms professionals from getting their message across to their audiences.
“The results of The BS Monitor highlight the opportunity there is to educate our industry about the benefits of applying B-Sci to our communications practice, and the significant impact that can be gained as a result”, says Shayoni Lynn, CEO, Lynn PR.
Lynn PR behavioural science toolkit
The BS Monitor includes a behavioural science toolkit for communicators. It includes nine key behavioural science principles, and how they can help you to reach your marketing and communications goals.
Cognitive overload – don’t overwhelm with too many choices or complexity
Defaults – harness the power of a default option
Anchoring – first . . . and last impressions matter
Ambiguity aversion – avoid being vague or unclear
Framing – position your desired option carefully
Loss aversion – make your costs less painful
Saliency – give prominence to the most important information; make it stand out
Norms – present the desired outcome as the ‘status quo’
Reciprocity – give something to get something
It’s often difficult to make changes in the way we do things. In behavioural science, that’s known as a status-quo bias. To make progress, we need to be shocked out of this unconscious daily routine. Behavioural science allows us to overcome these barriers.
Lynn PR is a Wadds Inc. client.
