King's College London

Confronted with short videos designed to highlight the work of volunteers, hear the story of a migrant to the UK, and encourage others to consider volunteering themselves, researchers found people responded positively in some aspects but negatively in others.

The researchers say the results show the care needed when designing and utilising storytelling and video content when attempting to ‘nudge’ or shape attitudes and behaviours.

Professor Peter John, of King’s College London, one of the study co-authors, said: “Our findings show a positive impact on attitudes from both kinds of storyteller that we used, but a negative effect on intentions to volunteer.

“We argue that attitudes are a good target for such videos, but the attempt to influence behaviour through exposure to a person who undertakes the activity may backfire as respondents might not be able to emulate these outstanding volunteering achievements.”

For the study, two videos were created with real-life volunteers, Danny and Massa, who were asked to share their stories. Both were asked to talk about their experiences volunteering with a foodbank, including what encouraged them to volunteer and why they enjoy it.

Massa, who came to the UK from Syria, also spoke about leaving her home and her troubles to integrate into society after her arrival, as well as her desire to help other refugees.

The videos, and a control video featuring no story but just salient information, were then played to groups of volunteers before a set of questions were put to them, to measure their attitudes to volunteering, to migration and to access to benefits – among other things.

The researchers found that both videos, Massa and Danny, elicited a positive response to the question: ‘Thinking of people coming to live in the UK from other countries, when do you think they should obtain the same rights to social benefits and services as citizens already living here?’.

However, a negative response was received when people were asked about whether migrants should be allowed to come to the UK.

Researchers also found that both videos elicited a negative response when people were asked about their intention to volunteer.

Prof John added: “Our findings comparing stories with non-stories show the former matter for progressive attitudes. Moreover, the mixed findings confirm the storytelling literature, which show the importance of context in structuring when and how stories have an impact on attitudes and behaviours.

“The negative finding on volunteering intention was unexpected. One explanation for this finding may be the classic division between attitudes and behaviour, whereby attitudes do not have a direct cost on implementation challenges, whereas with behaviours, even intended behaviours, people see the costs.”

The study was co-authored by Prof John, Toby Blume (Social Engine), Dr Dyana Mason (University of Oregon), and Marios Petropoulos (Social Engine).