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Plastic reduction policies are important for addressing plastic pollution however, the success of such policies relies on establishing new social norms. This study advances knowledge on public expressions of social norms by exploring the interplay between news media and social media in response to a new environmental policy. It is the first study to explore this phenomenon with the explicit aim of identifying and comparing information related to social norms. A content analysis was conducted in relation to the 2018 Australian supermarket plastic bag ban. Results demonstrate how social norms related to a new policy are created, reinforced and expressed in the contemporary media landscape. The interaction between news media and social media offers a window into public expressions of social norms, where social media provides a platform for civic participation in a public and real-time environment in which users can challenge the dominant narrative presented by the news media.

Public administrators rely on written communications to send information to citizens and stakeholders, and they are among the heaviest users of the postal service. Behavioral science research has identified several techniques that public administrators can use to increase compliance with written requests and, in turn, increase effectiveness. Currently, however, many written communications from government bodies are not written in a manner that utilizes these techniques. It remains an ongoing challenge for public administrators to identify, understand, and use these techniques in the written communications sent by their organizations. This article presents a framework capturing seven prominent techniques in a simple mnemonic—INSPIRE—that is already being used by several government bodies in Australia. It also provides practical examples of how to use each technique and demonstrates that using these techniques could result in large aggregate improvements in effectiveness and socially desirable outcomes of public administrators' written communications.

This study empirically examines how future park recreation is related to enduring societal trends. An online panel of 927 participants was surveyed regarding anticipated park recreation participation in ten years' time in terms of intended park activities and expected barriers, adapted from the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the Recreation Experience Preference scales and Leisure Constraints theory. Anticipated changes were then linked by participants to the particular societal trends impacting them. The results suggest increased activities are expected from the 'health awareness' and 'independence and convenience' societal trends, while increased barriers are expected from 'climate change', 'perceived safety' and 'population and urban growth'. Overall, the percentage of participants reporting future increased activities at parks is equal to those reporting 2 future barriers; which suggests potentially that there will be no net participation change over time. The management implications, limitations and potential future research agenda stemming from the study are discussed.