National behavioural insights guidelines set by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation are based on the PRIME framework – purpose, review, intervention, measure and expand.
In the 12th Malaysia Plan, the BI approach will be adopted as a complementary tool to enhance the government’s services to the rakyat. BI will be used to design and implement policies to guide the rakyat towards making better decisions. – 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025)
WE believe that people generally make choices based on rational thinking.
Policymakers assume that humans decide and act sensibly and logically, thus policies are developed based on this belief. After all, policies and regulations are meant to change behaviour towards intended objectives.
However, other factors – such as social and cultural circumstances, prejudice and biases, as well as personal experience and habits – often influence people’s decision-making and actions.
Behavioural insights (BI) recognise this conundrum. Policymakers worldwide turn to BI to understand how people make choices which influence their behaviour and actions.
BI is a policymaking tool combining elements from psychology, social science, and cognitive science, with empirically tested evidence.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 202 institutions worldwide have applied BI to public policy.
BI application in policymaking has proven to enhance public compliance, reduce compliance costs, and improve policy outcomes.
Implementing BI optimises the use of resources and minimises enforcement as people are more willing to comply with rules and regulations. As BI employs problem-solving through tested interventions, it builds the foundation for evidence-based policy. Driving BI adoption
The application of BI in the public sector will be introduced in the 12th Plan through several initiatives by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation. – 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025)
The Government has entrusted the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) – a statutory body under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) – to drive the implementation of BI in public policy.
Since 2020, the MPC has been developing modules and conducting studies, experiments and capacity-building programmes to establish the application of BI among government institutions.
MPC spearheads the following initiatives in driving the adoption of BI in Malaysia in the 12th Malaysia Plan duration:
1. Organising awareness programmes to engage regulators and policymakers at the relevant ministries.
2. Broadening case studies and BI initiatives through the 1Ministry, 1Project programme to develop a pool of local talents in BI and widen experience among practitioners in the public sector.
3. Developing BI programme evaluation to measure the effectiveness of BI in policymaking.
4. Publishing BI guidelines and case studies as references for practitioners in the public sector.
5. Conducting capacity-building programmes for government officers and encouraging their active participation in BI case studies and initiatives.
Case study #1
In collaboration with the Sungai Petani municipal council (MPSPK), a BI case study was conducted to solve the high volume of assessment tax arrears in Sungai Petani, Kedah.
The study identified recommendations and work plans in addressing the problem and proposed the appropriate intervention to increase taxpayers’ awareness, change their behaviour, and inculcate the practice of paying assessment tax periodically without delays.
Findings indicated that taxpayers in Sungai Petani regarded paying tax as an obligation than a requirement to ensure receiving continuous services from MPSP.
The study reported that the responsibility to pay tax correlated with attitude and intention to comply with paying tax.
Therefore, the initiatives to increase awareness should focus on interventions to change taxpayers’ attitudes and perceptions of the obligation to pay assessment tax.
The study put forward three key recommendations:
> Establish the BI nudge unit.
> Focus on the moral attribute in paying taxes and MPSP’s authority.
> Conduct an awareness campaign through social media.
Outreach and campaign content should nudge taxpayers to pay assessment tax, regarded as a debt and religious obligation. The awareness campaign recommended the use of specific social media such as WhatsApp and Telegram, which are proven effective. Case study #2
A BI case study was conducted to investigate the factors that encourage individual innovativeness among youth in Malaysia and to propose recommendations to nudge youth to be innovative, in line with the National Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (2021-2030).
The case study focused on generic skills, individual innovativeness, adaptive performance, awareness of innovative-related programmes, and barriers and drivers in encouraging individual innovativeness.
The study reported that most of the sample was in the average or low innovativeness continuum. Only 23.5% were inclined to high innovativeness.
The findings showed that most youths had skills often associated with individual innovativeness but needed encouragement and motivation.
The study proposed interventions in openness to experience, resistance to change, and intrinsic motivation to encourage individual adaptive performance.
The study identified intrinsic motivation and productivity as drivers for innovation. Complicated processes in innovation and external factors such as lack of funds, time and resources are regarded as barriers hindering individual innovativeness.
The study proposed several recommendations to encourage innovativeness among youth:
1. Introduce interventions focusing on perceptions, traits and behaviour.
2. Organise programmes based on the drivers.
3. Introduce interventions addressing the barriers.
4. Design interventions which enable more manageable and straightforward innovation processes and requirements.
5. Design interventions to increase the visibility of available resources and pathways.
6. Conduct activities to increase knowledge of opportunities from innovation.
7. Direct resources towards intervention studies integrating psychological, behavioural and social variables.
8. Promote innovation as a solution to a problem. Case study #3
The Malaysia Productivity Corporation, in collaboration with the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Ministry, conducted a BI study to understand digital adoption among microentrepreneurs, collect and analyse behavioural data among microentrepreneurs in the wholesale and trade retail, and recommend intervention strategies to encourage entrepreneurs to adopt digital technology in business operations.
The study showed that microentrepreneurs mainly used social media and ecommerce to reach customers rather than to enable end-to-end digital transactions.
Findings also showed that most microentrepreneurs adopted online banking as a more frequently used payment method, surpassing integrated payment gateways such as GrabPay and ShopeePay.
Microentrepreneurs acknowledged the scalability of digital adoption for business sustainability.
From the BI perspective, the study indicated that the respondents were attached to their identity and made choices based on their underlying beliefs on digital innovation.
The study revealed that microentrepreneurs had strong vision and innovative thinking and were ready to adopt digital technology to meet customer expectations.
Inadequate technical competencies, lack of capital investment, and the external environment were identified as barriers for microentrepreneurs to embrace technology.
The study proposed two recommendations based on the findings:
1. Design interventions with a focus on microentrepreneurs identity to affect decision-making towards adopting digital technology.
2. Strategise solutions to address the identified barriers focusing on persuasive techniques such as framing, priming, understanding social norms, anchoring, and adjusting, to motivate microentrepreneurs to make decisions based on the positive impact of adopting digital operations.
Several case studies are currently in the final stages that cover the following areas:
1. Increasing public compliance in paying compound.
2. Raising enrolment rate at private education institutions.
3. Strengthening strategic trade.
4. Promoting epayment among retailers at farmers’ markets.
5. Enhancing the utilisation of the Business Licensing Electronic Support System (BLESS) system among regulators and industry players.
The case studies strengthen BI application in policymaking by providing conclusive data and information for intervention design and implementation.National BI Conference 2022
On Dec 7, 2022, MPC organised the National Conference on Behavioural Insights 2022, themed Mainstreaming Behavioural Insights for Better Policy.
The virtual conference was graced by MITI secretary general Datuk Lokman Hakim Ali, who represented Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali, and attended by more than 500 participants from the public and private sectors.
During the conference, MPC reiterated the importance of BI application, in line with evidence-based policymaking and the whole-of-government approach towards quality policies and regulations.
The conference was MPC’s effort to increase awareness and understanding of embedding BI in designing and implementing better policies and build the capacity of policymakers and regulators to apply Bi in public policy.
During the conference, MPC announced the completion of the National Behavioural Insights Guidelines, a reference to guide regulators, policymakers and BI practitioners at the national, state, and local authority levels in applying BI as a policy and productivity tool.
The guidelines establish the PRIME framework to equip policymakers with simple processes, design strategies and methods for implementing BI. PRIME consists of the following:
1. Purpose: Outline the purpose of the policy goal and target groups to identify critical behavioural issues.
2. Review: Review the gaps in behaviour and their context.
3. Intervention: Design interventions using effective strategies to achieve policy outcomes.
4. Measure: Measure and track the intervention results and demonstrate that interventions lead to behavioural change.
5. Expand: Scale-up interventions to the broader public body or target groups.
The National BI Guidelines also serve as a repository of BI best practices, proofs of concepts, methodological standards and a reference for ethical principles and concerns in implementing BI.
MPC is committed to driving BI initiatives as mandated by the 12th Malaysia Plan to enhance productivity and competitiveness.
