From intention to action: The Fogg model for driving sustainability

Many people say they care about climate change, and surveys confirm this time and again. However, turning that concern into concrete actions is not easy. It's not about lack of interest or willpower; there are real barriers—psychological, social, and structural—that make it difficult for what we know to translate into practice (Gifford, 2011; Lorenzoni, Nicholson-Cole, & Whitmarsh, 2007).

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BJ Fogg's Behavior Model offers a way out. His formula (B = M × A × T) [1] and captology—the study of how technology can change behaviors—provide tools to design digital platforms that facilitate sustainable actions, reduce friction [2], and activate collective participation (Fogg, 2009). This approach connects with environmental psychology [3], the theory of planned behavior [4] (Ajzen, 1991), and the principles of persuasive design [5] (Fogg, 2003). The goal: to convert environmental commitment into practices that are repeated and socially validated.

Theoretical and technical framework of Fogg's Behavior Model (B = M x A x T)

BJ Fogg's model (FBM - Fogg Behavior Model) states that a behavior (B) occurs only when three elements coincide at the same time: motivation (M), ability (A), and a trigger (T) (Fogg, 2009). If one fails, the behavior is not executed. Simple. And useful when designing platforms to promote sustainability, because the intention is usually there, but execution is hindered by perceived difficulty, lack of opportunities, or absence of signals that activate action.

The model comes from behavioral psychology [6] and captology (design of persuasive technologies [7]). It aligns with the Theory of Planned Behavior [8] (Ajzen, 1991) and with studies on psychological barriers in climate mitigation [9] (Gifford, 2011). Unlike previous approaches, the FBM explains how the user's internal variables must synchronize with external elements for behavioral change to be sustainable.

Motivation (M): The internal drive

Fogg structures motivation into three dual axes: pleasure/pain, hope/fear, and social acceptance/rejection (Fogg, 2003). It's not an abstract desire. We act to approach rewards or move away from negative consequences. In sustainability, this means understanding what moves people: the satisfaction of reducing negative impacts, the hope of contributing to collective well-being, or the social recognition that comes with responsible practices.

Environmental education transforms that motivation into action. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer clear frameworks that connect global values with everyday experiences, strengthening individual and community commitment (UNESCO, 2017).

Ability (A): Simplicity and self-efficacy

Fogg (2009) defines ability not as technical skill but as simplicity: how easy it is to execute an action. The simpler, the more likely it is to occur. Behavioral design [10] in sustainability must reduce complexity: step-by-step guides, intuitive tools, and nearby examples that demonstrate that sustainable action is within reach.

Applications that show georeferenced sustainable actions or recommendations adapted to the local context increase the perception of self-efficacy. The principles of captology—simplicity, progression, and feedback—help users move from theoretical interest to everyday action, closing the gap between intention and behavior.

Trigger (T): The activation stimulus

The trigger is the external stimulus that drives action at the right moment. It must synchronize with the user's internal state (their current combination of motivation and ability). Fogg (2009) distinguishes three types:

Facilitators help when motivation is high, but ability is limited. A step-by-step tutorial for correctly separating waste.

Signal triggers act as reminders when both motivation and ability are high. A notification informing about recycling day.

Motivators generate emotional impulse when ability is present, but motivation is lacking. A message showing the positive impact of a sustainable action on the community.

To work, the trigger must coincide with the user's internal state and context, turning opportunity into concrete action. Notifications, social messages, or reminders that activate sustainable behaviors.

Push notifications, contextual reminders, and the visibility of other users' actions function as effective triggers. Social influence amplifies the effect (Granovetter, 1985): when sustainable action becomes visible in the community, it transforms into an emerging norm and facilitates its collective adoption.

Captology and persuasive design

Captology, founded by Fogg (2003), studies how technologies can ethically and effectively influence human behavior. It is based on principles of persuasive design [11]:

• Reduction: Simplifying complex tasks into minimal actions.

• Tunneling: Guiding the user step by step while avoiding distractions.

• Suggestion: Opportune contextual interventions at critical moments.

• Personalization: Adapting the experience according to user preferences and data.

• Self-monitoring: Clear visualization of progress and results.

• Social reward: Reinforcement through recognition and community support.

  
  

Integrating these principles into digital design reduces barriers, increases motivation, and encourages repetition. This creates sustainable habits.

Gamification and social recognition: Mechanisms for sustaining sustainable change

Social recognition has real weight in the adoption of sustainable behaviors. Seeing other community members act responsibly generates a social norm that legitimizes and reinforces environmentally positive behavior (Thøgersen, 2004). Gamification—points, badges, levels—strengthens this effect by incentivizing participation and transforming small actions into repeated commitments.

Gamification doesn't always produce permanent changes immediately, but it promotes micro-commitments that, with repetition and social recognition, can become habits. The sense of belonging and community identity helps here. Place attachment has been identified as a relevant factor in explaining continuity in environmental action (Wynveen, Kyle, & Sutton, 2012).

Practical application: Digital platforms and collective habits

Platforms that integrate social recognition and gamification change how users adopt sustainable behaviors. An effective platform would allow documenting environmental actions quickly: you take a photo—when recycling, using public transport, or planting a tree—select the action from a visual list, and automatically post with geolocation. No complications. It encourages replicating proven practices and adjusting to the geographical context.

These platforms would show personalized dashboards with information about cumulative impact—CO₂ avoided, water saved, contribution to the SDGs—incentivizing continuity with visual results. Gamification: points, levels, and badges recognize individual achievements while the real-time display of community achievements reinforces the sense of belonging. Weekly challenges and notifications activate daily micro-commitments. A virtuous circle of participation.

Integrated Digital Architecture

An example of architecture that integrates the Fogg model, captology, and gamification would include: Simple and quick registration of sustainable actions documented in less than one minute. Agile documentation through photo capture, SDG assignment, and automatic geolocation. Repository of best practices with visual and nearby options that facilitate replicable actions.

Personal dashboard with metrics such as CO₂ avoided, water saved, and contributions to the SDGs. Social recognition through local community achievements in real time. Basic gamification with points, levels, and badges such as "Sustainable Collaborator." Short challenges with weekly micro-challenges that drive continuity.

This architecture translates Fogg's model into concrete practices: motivation arises from content and social achievements, ability is enhanced with simple actions, and triggers are activated through social interaction and contextual notifications. Implementing these principles in specific contexts allows us to see how theory becomes effective practice.

Practical examples of the Fogg model in sustainability

The following examples show how Fogg's Model (M–A–T), together with captology, gamification, and persuasive design, transforms sustainable intention into simple, repeatable, and socially reinforced actions in three areas: cities, schools, and companies.

Cities: Municipal sustainable mobility platform

A municipal digital system can help citizens choose low-emission transportation options, applying the three components of the model. Motivation: A public dashboard compares sustainable performance between neighborhoods and visualizes collectively avoided CO₂. It reinforces community identity and local pride. Ability: Select sustainable routes with a single click. Simplified maps and automatic recommendations eliminate planning complexity. Triggers: Geolocated notifications alert the user when passing near bicycle stations or public transport points. Physical proximity becomes an opportunity for action.

Gamification and persuasive design complete the experience: users accumulate points for each sustainable journey, receive badges for consistency, and access a guided tunnel that facilitates their first ecological route, eliminating initial uncertainty. Sustainable mobility as a visible, recognized, and progressively habitual practice.

Schools: School program for sustainable habits

An educational application to register students' sustainable actions and encourage responsible routines adapts Fogg's model to the school context. Motivation: Friendly competitions between classes and weekly recognition of achievements in visible spaces of the school—bulletin boards or digital screens—where the entire school community can see collective progress. Ability: Ultra-simplified registration: a single click to confirm actions like "I brought my reusable bottle" or "I separated my trash correctly." Simple visual instructions and suggestions are adapted according to the students' age. Triggers: Automatic reminders before recess or upon arriving at school. Strategic moments that activate concrete actions without interrupting the flow of the school day.

Gamification and persuasive design are integrated through badges for maintained habits, daily accumulative points, and personal dashboards that allow students to monitor their own progress. Individual autonomy and responsibility. Sustainable practices as natural behaviors within the educational environment.

Gamification and persuasive design are integrated through badges for maintained habits, daily accumulative points, and personal dashboards that allow students to supervise their own progress, fostering both autonomy and individual responsibility. This approach transforms sustainable practices into natural behaviors within the educational environment.

Businesses: Digital energy efficiency system in offices

An internal corporate tool can guide employees to reduce unnecessary energy consumption. Motivation: A visible panel in common areas shows the energy savings achieved by each team or department. It reinforces collective contribution and generates shared responsibility. Ability: Interface with specific and contextualized instructions ("turn off unused equipment," "optimize natural light," "activate saving mode"), adapted to the particular environment of each office and each user's profile. Triggers: Notifications scheduled at the end of the workday, alerts when consumption exceeds the established average, or direct signals linked to sensors that detect lights on without activity.

Gamification and persuasive design operate through badges for sustained monthly savings, collaborative challenges between departments, and continuous visualization of accumulated progress. Self-monitoring. Energy efficiency as a positively reinforced corporate social norm.

These three examples show how Fogg's Model, combined with captology, gamification, and persuasive design, converts sustainability into everyday practice. Increasing motivation, simplifying execution, and activating timely signals allows cities, schools, and companies to transform good intentions into concrete, accessible, and socially reinforced behaviors. Sustainable routines that persist.

Digital applications based on the Fogg model

Fogg's model has inspired various digital platforms that promote responsible behaviors, integrating motivation, ability, and triggers into user experience design.

Beeminder uses self-monitoring and commitment contracts to help users maintain personal goals linked to health or sustainability (Beeminder, n.d.). Forest App implements gamification and persuasive design to encourage concentration and minimize digital distractions, facilitating the development of healthy habits (Forest, n.d.). Meedan's Check specializes in collaborative information verification, supported by social motivation and personalized triggers, to strengthen community transparency (Meedan, n.d.).

Urban and Community Projects

The application of these principles has also been tested in urban projects. SmartSantander (Spain) has deployed thousands of sensors in public spaces to monitor air quality, traffic, and energy consumption, improving urban management and encouraging citizen participation in sustainability challenges (SmartSantander, n.d.). Copenhagen Smart City (Denmark) implements digital platforms, environmental sensors, and incentive programs to promote sustainable mobility, recycling, and energy efficiency through public-private collaboration (Copenhagen Solutions Lab, n.d.). Samsø Energy Academy (Denmark) has been key in the transition toward energy self-sufficiency, managing collaborative projects that integrate renewable energies, education, and digital tools for monitoring and community participation (Samsø Energy Academy, n.d.).

These cases demonstrate that the convergence of digital platforms, open data, and social participation allows converting sustainable intention into verifiable collective action.

Conclusions

Fogg's Model demonstrates that the gap between intention and sustainable action can be closed with interventions that elevate motivation, reduce perceived difficulty, and activate timely triggers. When these three dimensions are integrated into platforms and everyday environments, sustainable behaviors no longer depend only on individual willpower. They transform into easy, accessible choices aligned with daily routines.

Applications in cities, schools, and companies show that persuasive design and gamification generate more stable and visible commitments. They facilitate cooperation and the creation of social norms favorable to change. With adequate mechanisms, sustainability can become a repeatable, measurable, and socially reinforced behavior.

Notes

[1] BJ Fogg: Psychologist and researcher at Stanford, creator of the Behavior Model and founder of captology, a discipline about how technology can influence human habits.

[2] Reducing behavioral friction: Refers to simplifying or eliminating obstacles (complexity, doubts, lack of time) that prevent a person from carrying out a desired action, facilitating the adoption of new behaviors.

[3] Environmental psychology: A Branch of psychology that studies how the physical and social environment influences human behavior and sustainable decision-making.

[4] Theory of planned behavior: Establishes that a behavior depends on three factors: the attitude toward the action, the social norms surrounding it, and the perceived control over performing it. According to this model, the more favorable these elements are, the greater the probability that a person will execute the behavior.

[5] Principles of persuasive design: Strategies to guide, motivate, and facilitate user action, such as reducing steps, personalization, feedback, and social rewards.

[6] Behavioral psychology: A Discipline that analyzes how thoughts, emotions, and external stimuli influence the formation and change of human behaviors.

[7] Persuasive technologies: Digital systems designed to influence attitudes or behaviors without resorting to coercion. They use principles of psychology, design, and communication to motivate, facilitate, or guide specific actions in an ethical manner oriented toward concrete objectives.

[8] Theory of planned behavior: Proposed by Ajzen (1991), it holds that the probability of executing a behavior depends on the individual's intention, which is formed from personal attitudes, perceived social norms, and control over the action. This framework allows understanding the motivations behind sustainable decisions and facilitates the design of interventions that increase the adoption of responsible practices.

[9] Psychological barriers to climate mitigation: Internal reasons (denial, psychological distance, fear of change) that make it difficult for people to adopt behaviors to mitigate climate change.

[10] Behavioral design: An approach that applies principles of psychology and behavioral sciences to the design of products, services, or environments, with the aim of positively and ethically influencing people's decisions and actions. It consists of creating experiences, interfaces, and contexts that facilitate and motivate the adoption of desired behaviors, such as sustainable or healthy habits, through process simplification, the use of stimuli, and the reinforcement of relevant signals.

[11] Persuasive design: A technique that influences users' decisions and behaviors through psychological principles applied to design, to motivate them to perform specific actions. An example would be an online store that uses "Buy now" buttons with bright colors and messages like "Limited time offer" to encourage quick purchases. This strategy seeks to facilitate and motivate user action naturally and ethically, improving the experience and increasing conversions.

Appendix

A real example that illustrates the application of Fogg's Model (B = M × A × T) in sustainability is Too Good To Go, a global platform to fight food waste, created in 2015 in Denmark.

The behavior (B): The user buys and rescues a "surprise pack" of surplus food.

Motivation (M): Alignment of Dual Axes

The application doesn't depend solely on altruism. It attacks the motivational axes simultaneously:

• Pleasure/Pain: Offers quality food at a very reduced price (1/3 of its value). The user feels the pleasure of saving and avoids the pain of spending a lot of money.

• Hope/Fear: Appeals to ecological conscience. The user feels hope knowing they are "saving" food and reducing CO2, mitigating the fear of climate change.

• Social Acceptance: Upon completing the purchase, the app shows how many "heroes" have saved food today, generating a sense of belonging and acceptance in a responsible community.

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Ability (A): Technology for Simplicity

Following Fogg's principle that "Ability = Simplicity," the app eliminates operational friction:

• Georeferencing: The app shows establishments near the user's current location, eliminating search effort.

• Decision reduction: The user buys a "Surprise Pack." They don't have to choose dish by dish (which requires cognitive effort), they simply reserve and pick up.

• Payment ease: Everything is managed from the mobile in two clicks, increasing the perception of self-efficacy.

Trigger (T): Synchronization with Internal State

The application uses external triggers designed according to the user's context:

• Signal (Reminder Trigger): If the user usually buys at 6:00 PM, the app sends a push notification at 5:45 PM: "Dinner time! Save a pack near you." Here, motivation and ability are already high; only the reminder is needed.

• Motivator (Emotional Trigger): If the user has been inactive for a while, they send messages like: "We've saved 5,000 tons of CO2, we miss you." This seeks to reactivate motivation through social influence.

• Facilitator: When a new user registers, a brief overlay tutorial teaches them how to validate their purchase at the store, increasing their technical ability.

Result

The behavior occurs (B) because the Trigger arrives when Motivation (savings + ecology) is high and Ability (it's easy and nearby) is sufficient to cross the action line.

References

Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T

Beeminder. (n.d.). How Beeminder works. Retrieved from https://www.beeminder.com/

Copenhagen Solutions Lab. (n.d.). Copenhagen Smart City initiatives. Retrieved from https://cphsolutionslab.dk/

Fogg, B. J. (2003). Persuasive technology: Using computers to change what we think and do. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-55860-643-2.X5000-8

Fogg, B. J. (2009). A behavior model for persuasive design. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Persuasive Technology (Article 40). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/1541948.1541999

Forest. (n.d.). The Forest app story. Retrieved from https://www.forestapp.cc/

Gifford, R. (2011). The dragons of inaction: Psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation and adaptation. American Psychologist, 66(4), 290–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023566

Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 91(3), 481–510. https://doi.org/10.1086/228311

Lorenzoni, I., Nicholson-Cole, S., & Whitmarsh, L. (2007). Barriers perceived to engaging with climate change among the UK public and their policy implications. Global Environmental Change, 17(3-4), 445–459. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2007.01.004

Meedan. (n.d.). Check: Collaborative media review. Retrieved from https://meedan.com/check/

Samsø Energy Academy. (n.d.). Sustainable community energy projects. Retrieved from https://energiakademiet.dk/en/

SmartSantander. (n.d.). SmartSantander project. Retrieved from https://www.smartsantander.eu/

Thøgersen, J. (2004). A cognitive dissonance interpretation of consistencies and inconsistencies in environmentally responsible behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24(1), 93–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4494(03)00039-2

UNESCO. (2017). Education for Sustainable Development Goals: Learning objectives. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000247444

Wynveen, C. J., Kyle, G. T., & Sutton, S. G. (2012). Place meanings as antecedents of place attachment among marine reserve users. Environment and Behavior, 44(5), 570–589. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916511402059

#Suforall #Trespalacios #Fogg

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Javier Trespalacios

Orbe, Switzerland

2019

From intention to action: The Fogg model for driving sustainability