Nudging for Social Change: Promises and Cautions for Social Workers to Apply Behavioural Economic Tools

Abstract

Abstract Emerging knowledge from the behavioural economics field has the potential to expand social workers’ repertoire of tools to facilitate clients’ behavioural change and enhance policy design. However, social work training and practice do not traditionally incorporate this school of knowledge. As an initial step to bridge social work and behavioural economics, this article introduces behavioural economic concepts to social workers. In particular, it (i) reviews behavioural tendencies that are irrational, (ii) introduces seven behavioural intervention tools (commitment devices, defaults, incentives, social comparison, planning, messaging, and simplification and salience) to address these irrationalities, (iii) discusses cautions when applying these tools, (iv) introduces potential applications in micro and macro social work practice, (v) outlines steps to incorporate behavioural economic concepts into programme/policy design and (vi) addresses ethical considerations. Enhancing social workers’ knowledge of behavioural economics can facilitate interdisciplinary communication, collaboration and cross-fertilisation. Whilst social work practice may benefit from incorporating behavioural intervention tools, social workers’ rich practice wisdom can contribute to advancing ways through which nudge interventions further facilitate cognitive changes to bring about sustainable behavioural changes.