SHIFTing to sustainable behavior: An ethical-persuasive approach for mobile application development

Sustainable behavior leads to quality of life. While research has established the link between the two, how to orient our lives with responsible behavior is still unknown. Hence, this study proposes an approach to design a mobile phone application for sustainable behaviors based on the SHIFT framework. The proposed application aims to shift users’ unsustainable behaviors to sustainable ones. Therefore, the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology is adopted to achieve the objective of this research. As a result, we outline ethical concerns, persuasive messages, and key features of the proposed SHIFT App. The proposed artifact of the study is an easy-to-use application that can help users to adopt a sustainable lifestyle. This conceptual work guides future research to develop mobile applications for people to inculcate sustainable behavior in their everyday lives.