Abstract
BackgroundIn recent years, policymakers have increasingly used behaviourally informed policies, including ‘nudges’. They have been implemented to produce desirable social outcomes such as healthier eating and physical activity. In Germany, a small research team at the Federal Chancellery acts as the central unit to promote the introduction of nudges in the design of public life. Despite this, the nudging concept itself as well as the understanding around it has not spread widely among German citizens. When reporting about the concept, German media is often very critical of the concept.MethodsUsing a for age, sex and educational level nationally representative online survey with 1000 participants, we investigate whether German citizens know about the concept of nudging. We also explore if they approve of the theoretical concept as well as a list of seven specific interventions regarding healthy eating and physical activity. A particular focus is placed on whether the level of approval is dependent on the target group of the intervention, as well as different intervention-initiators.ResultsWe find that nearly 80% of the respondents have never heard of nudging. However when being provided with a definition, we find that a strong majority (90%) supports the concept of nudging as well as all the specific interventions. Acceptance rates are higher if interventions are targeted at the general population compared to only children. All initiators – statutory health insurers, the government, private companies, and independent experts – are accepted as nudge initiators.ConclusionAmongst Germans nudges are an accepted method to promote health behaviours. Policy makers from various fields in Germany should take that into account to improve future health policy.
Highlights
In recent years, policymakers have increasingly used behaviourally informed policies, including ‘nudges’
The survey was designed in a way to only include health nudges that either promote healthy eating or physical activity
Level of awareness and appraisal of the nudging concept as well as nudging interventions in general Nudging is largely unknown among German citizens. 77.6% (95%-CI = [74.89%; 80.15%)] of respondents have never heard of nudging, and only 4.1% (95%-CI = [2.96%; 5.52%]) say they can explain nudging in their own words (Fig. 1)
Summary
Policymakers have increasingly used behaviourally informed policies, including ‘nudges’ They have been implemented to produce desirable social outcomes such as healthier eating and physical activity. The nudging concept itself as well as the understanding around it has not spread widely among German citizens. Despite the large growth in awareness and the numerous formations of Nudge-Units worldwide, knowledge and understanding of the Nudging concept has not spread widely among German citizens [3]. The media often portray Nudging as being manipulative and equate it with “psychological tricks” They make the claim that a state which uses Nudging treats its citizens like “sheep” and takes away their opportunity to learn from mistakes [4,5,6,7,8]. There is some criticism claiming that nudges are used to achieve goals that are not useful or helpful to the person being nudged or to society [9]
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