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Information and Persuasion Achieving Safe Water Behaviors in Kenya

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  • Jill E. Luoto
  • David I. Levine
  • Jeff Albert

Abstract

Convincing people to adopt preventive health behaviors consistently is difficult, yet many lives could be saved if we understood better how to do so. For example, low-cost point-of-use (POU) technologies such as chlorine and filters can substantially reduce diarrheal disease (Clasen et al. 2006). Nonetheless, they are not widely or consistently used anywhere in the developing world, even when widely available. The authors ran a randomized field study in Kenya in which households received free POU products to test the importance of informational and behavioral constraints on usage. Sharing information about local water quality increases water treatment by 7-10 percentage points (11-24%) above that achieved by providing free products. Persuasive social marketing messages that harness findings from behavioral economics increase water treatment by an additional 9-11 percentage points. These results suggest promising avenues for incremental improvements in encouraging water treatment (and possibly other preventive health) behaviors. However, repeated exposures may be necessary to sustain behavior change.

Suggested Citation

  • Jill E. Luoto & David I. Levine & Jeff Albert, 2011. "Information and Persuasion Achieving Safe Water Behaviors in Kenya," Working Papers WR-885, RAND Corporation.
    • Handle: RePEc:ran:wpaper:wr-885
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    Cited by:

    1. Anna-Maria Aksan & William F. Vásquez, 2019. "Quality Perceptions and Water Treatment Behavior at the Household Level," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(03), pages 1-33, July.
    2. Sarah Wairimu Kariuki & Vivian Hoffmann, 2022. "Can information drive demand for safer food? Impact of brand‐specific recommendations and test results on product choice," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(3), pages 454-467, May.
    3. Grant Miller & A. Mushfiq Mobarak, 2015. "Learning About New Technologies Through Social Networks: Experimental Evidence on Nontraditional Stoves in Bangladesh," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 480-499, July.
    4. Jessoe, Katrina, 2013. "Improved source, improved quality? Demand for drinking water quality in rural India," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 460-475.
    5. Brown, Joe & Hamoudi, Amar & Jeuland, Marc & Turrini, Gina, 2017. "Seeing, believing, and behaving: Heterogeneous effects of an information intervention on household water treatment," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 141-159.
    6. Rieckmann, Johannes, 2015. "Determinants of drinking water treatment and hygiene habits in provincial towns in Yemen," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113183, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Samrat B. Kunwar & Alok K. Bohara, 2019. "Water Quality Avoidance Behavior: Bridging the Gap between Perception and Reality," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 6(02), pages 1-33, November.
    8. Haenssgen, Marco J. & Ariana, Proochista, 2017. "The Social Implications of Technology Diffusion: Uncovering the Unintended Consequences of People’s Health-Related Mobile Phone Use in Rural India and China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 286-304.
    9. Raf Van Gastel & Tim Goedemé & Julie Janssens & Eva Lefevere & Rik Lemkens, 2017. "A Reminder to Pay Less for Healthcare: take-up of Increased Reimbursement in a large-scale randomized field experiment," Working Papers 1712, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.

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