BAND and How Social Norms Can Make or Break Interventions
- Partner:
- Publication Type: Blog
- Date: March 1, 2025
- Team: Carolina Pimentel Corrêa
- Recommended Citation: MarketShare Associates. ”BAND and How Social Norms can Make or Break Interventions” Prepared by Carolina Pimentel Corrêa for MarketShare Associates, March 1, 2025.
Social norms are the unwritten rules and expectations that shape how people behave within their communities, influencing decisions, opportunities, and access to resources. These norms can either reinforce barriers or create pathways for change, making them critical for those working to drive social and economic transformation.
While social norms are often considered in discussions of inclusion, they are just as relevant for business, market systems, and economic development practitioners seeking broader, scalable impact. Understanding and considering social norms is key to unlocking systemic change – whether in workforce participation, entrepreneurship, financial access, or market dynamics.
This blog explores how behavioral analysis and social norms diagnostics can help implementers and practitioners design more effective interventions, with four steps to ensuring that your program is intentionally integrating norms in design & implementation.
- Map existing behaviors and social norms
- Identify reference network
- Engage local influencers representing the reference network
- Use a gradual change approach