Under consumers’ scrutiny - an investigation into consumers’ attitudes and concerns about nudging in the realm of health behavior

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Astrid F Junghans¹  Tracy TL Cheung¹  Denise DT De Ridder¹ 

[1] Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University Heidelberglaan 1, 3508TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands;

关键词: Nudging;    Liberal paternalism;    Public policy;    Health;    Behavioral economics;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-015-1691-8

 received in 2014-11-19, accepted in 2015-03-26,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundNudging strategies have recently attracted attention from scholars and policy makers for their potential in influencing people’s behaviors on large scales. But is the fact that nudges do not forbid any choice-options or significantly alter people’s economic incentives sufficient to conclude that nudges should be implemented? While this is discussed amongst scholars from various disciplines the voices of consumers, the target-group of nudges, remain unheard. Since understanding their knowledge about nudging and their opinions on being nudged are crucial for the evaluation of the moral appropriateness of nudging, the current study examines consumers’ knowledge of and attitudes toward nudging in general and the realm of health behavior.MethodsIn this qualitative investigation in-depth semi-structured interviews with UK consumers were conducted to examine consumers’ attitudes to four domains of inquiry around which the scholarly discussions about nudging have revolved: consumers’ approval of nudging, consumers’ views on the origin of nudges, consumers’ perceived effectiveness of nudging, and consumers’ concerns about manipulative aspects of nudging.ResultsInterviews revealed that consumers are largely unfamiliar with the concept of nudging altogether. Once defined and explained to them most consumers approve of the concept, especially in the realm of health behavior, given particular conditions: 1. Nudges should be designed for benefiting individuals and society; 2. consumers comprehend the decision-making context and the reasoning behind the promotion of the targeted behavior. Interviews revealed very limited concerns with manipulative aspects of nudges.ConclusionsThese findings call for better information-management to ensure consumers knowledge of nudges and awareness of their current implementation. Under that condition the findings encourage the implementation of nudges benefitting individuals and society in domains that consumers comprehend, such as health behaviors. Further research is required to clarify consumers’ concerns and requirements for nudges in more complex domains such as financial decisions and retirement plans.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Junghans et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2015