The Role of Individual Motivation and Transparency in the Acceptability of Nudges Stimulating Vegetarian Options

A nudge is a subtle change in a choice environment that steers one’s behaviour in a particular desired direction. Acceptability of nudges – whether the lay public approves of them – is important for their effectiveness, which is why we aimed to gain more insight into two determinants of nudge acceptability. More specifically, we conducted an online experiment to investigate the role of individual motivation, transparency, and their possible interaction effect on the acceptability of nudges. Doing this, we examined the acceptability of a hypothetical vegetarian default option using three conditions with either no transparency, transparency about the presence of the nudge, or transparency about the purpose of the nudge. Autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and amotivation were measured. As a secondary aim, we examined compliance with the nudge for choosing a vegetarian lunch. Overall, the average acceptability score was 78.12%, indicating that a majority of the participants...Show moreA nudge is a subtle change in a choice environment that steers one’s behaviour in a particular desired direction. Acceptability of nudges – whether the lay public approves of them – is important for their effectiveness, which is why we aimed to gain more insight into two determinants of nudge acceptability. More specifically, we conducted an online experiment to investigate the role of individual motivation, transparency, and their possible interaction effect on the acceptability of nudges. Doing this, we examined the acceptability of a hypothetical vegetarian default option using three conditions with either no transparency, transparency about the presence of the nudge, or transparency about the purpose of the nudge. Autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and amotivation were measured. As a secondary aim, we examined compliance with the nudge for choosing a vegetarian lunch. Overall, the average acceptability score was 78.12%, indicating that a majority of the participants highly approved of the nudge. In addition, 82.40% of the sample indicated to stick with the vegetarian option, showing high effectiveness of the default as well. Our study revealed that autonomous motivation (β = .52, p < .001) and controlled motivation (β = .23, p = .001) were positively associated with nudge acceptability. We did not find a significant relationship between acceptability and transparency. However, our analyses showed a possible interaction effect between controlled motivation and transparency on acceptability; the association between controlled motivation and acceptability may only be significant for nudges that are transparent about their purpose. Building on previous findings the current study showed that motivation is associated with acceptability for behaviour showing a wide variation in motivation, namely meat consumption. Moreover, we contributed to the ethical discussion on the transparency of nudges, and we were the first to find a possible interaction effect between controlled motivation and transparency. Future research on individual motivation and transparency should provide more insight into ways to further improve the acceptability and effectiveness of nudges.Show less

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The Role of Individual Motivation and Transparency in the Acceptability of Nudges Stimulating Vegetarian Options