Investigating young adults’ perceived effectiveness of textual information about food-related nudging

Abstract

PurposePerceived effectiveness of nudging has been established as one of the most reliable predictors of acceptance of nudging. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how source credibility and argument strength influence the perceived effectiveness of textual information about food-related nudging in order to provide a better understanding of how acceptance of nudging may be facilitated.Design/methodology/approachA 2 × 2 scenario-based between-subjects factorial experiment with source credibility (high vs low) and argument strength (high vs low) as factors was applied. Data on respondents’ level of involvement in food-related behaviour were also collected.FindingsArgument strength had a positive main effect on the perceived effectiveness of nudging, and there was a significant positive interaction effect of source credibility × argument strength on the perceived effectiveness of nudging.Practical implicationsThe findings of this paper provide policy makers and other decision makers with a better understanding of how information about nudging should be communicated to consumers in order to facilitate acceptance.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the first to investigate how information about nudging should be communicated to consumers in order for nudging to be perceived as an effective and thus acceptable measure to influence food-related behaviour.