Abstract
Sedentary behaviour has been identified as having many negative health outcomes; however, simple activities such as taking the stairs can have a positive effect on health by breaking up sedentary time (Marshall & Ramirez, 2011). It might be especially important to encourage this activity in individuals with sedentary office jobs (Chau et al., 2010). One way to do this might be through the use of social norms, especially descriptive norms (perceptions of others’ behaviour), which have been shown to be an effective tool for changing behaviour in this population (Priebe & Spink, 2012). This study examined the influence of a descriptive norm message on stair use in an office setting. Given the importance of a psychologically meaningful group to norm influence (Hogg, 2003), group identity also was examined. After completing online measures assessing initial stair behaviour, office workers (N=97) received a fictional normative message via email about their co-workers behaviour relative to their own (i.e., your co-workers used the stairs instead of the elevator more than you did). Repeated measures ANOVA results revealed a significant increase in stair use from pre- to post-message (p’s < .05). However, this was qualified by a significant time/identity interaction (p < .10) where differences only emerged for those who highly identified with the norm reference group. The preliminary findings suggest that descriptive norm messages might be an effective tool for increasing stair use in workplace settings and, consistent with theory, highlight the importance of considering identifying with the norm reference group.Acknowledgments: 1st author supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Vanier Graduate Scholarship.