<mark>cost means of increasing awareness of the number of people engaging in open defecation and correcting misperceptions about the frequency of a behavior.</mark>

# **<mark>Social and economic context</mark>**

<mark>The adverse health effects of open defecation are well known: stunting and malnutrition, diarrhea and enteric parasite infection in young children, childhood death, and lower human capital (Ayalew, et al., 2018; Hammer & Spears, 2016; Mara, 2017; Patil, et al., 2014). Reducing open defecation requires access to improved sanitation facilities. Recent years have witnessed an increase in latrine construction and access among rural Indian households (Swachh Bharat Mission, 2019; National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey, 2017‐18).</mark><sup>1</sup> <mark>However, the transition from defecating in the open to using latrines appears to have been slower, at least in four north Indian states (Gupta, 2019).</mark><sup>2</sup> <mark>Among other factors, behavior change in the north Indian context may be influenced by social norms and cultural beliefs, especially those related to ritual purity and impurity (Coffey et al., 2015; Gupta, Coffey and Spears, 2016). These include the belief that open defecation is acceptable and harmless or that pits may require more frequent cleaning if all household members use the latrine, the cultural anxiety that building a latrine close to the house can make it “impure”, the social norm that pit cleaning is not only an unpleasant but also a demeaning (especially for higher caste members) and socially threatening job or that open defecation is a “masculine” activity (Coffey, et al., 2016). Similarly, when a sample of latrine owners in Uttar Pradesh were asked why they defecated in the open, 27% indicated that they were simply used to it, 23% did so because it has been practiced for generations, and 20% had simply never thought of defecating in latrines (SaniFOAM‐UP, 2016). This suggests that behavior change in this context may also require changing people’s mental models about how they think about defecation practices. Latrine access requires supplementation with behavior change communication. Ending open defecation likely requires addressing the social, cultural, and normative barriers that may get in the way of improved sanitation practices vis‐à‐vis open defecation.</mark> <mark>What forms should behavior change strategies take? The messages in communication strategies regarding open defecation and toilet use can take multiple forms, including efforts to highlight class aspirations, nationalism, ethnic or caste role and pride, gender roles, or urbanism and modernization, among others. In this paper, we test the content of two more generic messages – social empirical expectations, and the rebranding of cleanliness. We also test two modalities – pamphlets and the use of individuals who sit in center of village‐level social networks, whom we call “norm entrepreneurs.” More generally, we aim to provide an empirical foundation for behavior change strategies used in the field.</mark>

# **<mark>Social Norms and Cultural Schema</mark>**

1 According to government estimates, since the commencement of the Swachh Bharat Mission in October 2014, nearly 92 million latrines have been built across rural India as of January 2019 (SBM, 2019). The 2017‐18 National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) reported 77% toilet penetration across India.

2 Estimates of regular toilet use in rural India vary. The NARSS 2017‐18 found that 93.4% of people who had access to toilets used them regularly. A recent survey of rural north Indian states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and UP), completed in late 2018, found that the rate of open defecation among people who owned a latrine was at 23% (the same as four years prior), and that the overall open defecation rate among rural people across these states was 44% (Gupta et al., 2019).

3