Digital Nudging Research Articles

Online flight booking: digital nudging to decrease aviation-related carbon emissions

PurposeOnline flight booking websites compare airfares, convenience and other consumer relevant attributes. Environmental concerns are typically not addressed, even though aviation is the most emission-intensive mode of transportation. This article demonstrates the potential for digital nudges to facilitate more environmentally friendly decision-making on online flight booking websites.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used the digital nudging design process to implement two nudging interventions in an experimental setting on a fictitious flight booking website. The two nudging interventions are (1) an informational nudge, presented as an emission label, and (2) an understanding mapping nudge, presented as an emission converter.FindingsThis article finds that both digital nudges are useful interventions in online choice environments; however, emission labels more effectively encourage sustainable booking behavior.Originality/valueThe contributions of this article are twofold. In contribution to research, this article builds on existing research in sustainability contexts and successfully evaluates the effectiveness of anchoring and understanding mapping heuristics to influence sustainable decision-making in virtual environments. Furthermore, in contribution to practice, this article contributes knowledge to nudge design and provides hands on examples for designers or website operators on how to put nudge designs to practice in virtual choice environments. Additionally, this article contributes relevant considerations in a high-impact research field with growing importance given the global climate crisis.

E-Ticarette Bilişsel Önyargılar ve Tüketici Kararlarına Etkileri

Dijitalleşmeyle birlikte ticaret çevrimiçi platformlara taşınmış ve satın alma kararları yüz yüze etkileşim olmadan çevrimiçi olarak alınmaya başlanmıştır. Etkileşimin dijitalleşmesi, satıcılar ve tüketiciler arasındaki ürün özelinde ortaya çıkan bilgi asimetrisini tüketiciler lehine ortadan kaldırmaktadır. Öte yandan bireylerin dijital ortamlarda bıraktığı dijital ayak izleri ile internetin zamandan ve mekândan bağımsız olarak kişiselleştirilmiş içerikler sunabilmesi, yeni bir tür bilgi asimetrisinin ortaya çıkmasına neden olmuştur. Tüketici verilerinin işlenmesi, dijital dürtme mesajları ile bilişsel önyargılar içeren içeriklerin geliştirilmesini mümkün kılmış ve böylece tüketicilerin rasyonel olmayan tüketim kararlarına yönlendirilmesi riski ortaya çıkmıştır. Bu çalışmada öncelikle e-ticaret platformlarının ürün sayfaları incelenmiş ve tüketicileri akıl dışı tüketime yönlendirmek için sıklıkla kullanılan bilişsel önyargılar ortaya çıkartılmıştır. Akabinde, bilişsel önyargıların etkisi altında tüketicilerin karar verme sıklıkları, geliştirilen bir e-ticaret sayfasında gönüllü katılımcılarla yapılan deneyler ile belirlenmiştir. Ayrıca katılımcıların verileri ve katılımcıların rasyonel davranış skorları anket çalışması ile elde edilmiş ve rasyonellik puanı, yaş, cinsiyet, alışveriş sıklığı ve internette geçirilen günlük süre gibi kişisel veriler ile bilişsel önyargılar arasındaki ilişkiler ikili lojistik regresyon ile analiz edilmiştir. Çalışmanın sonucunda her bir bilişsel yanlılığı etkileyen faktörler tespit edilmiş ve ileride yapılacak araştırmalar için tavsiyelerde bulunulmuştur.

Nudging digital physical activity breaks for home studying of university students-A randomized controlled trial during the COVID-19 pandemic with daily activity measures.

University students are of particular public health interest because they are at high risk for physical inactivity and sedentary behaviors. In conjunction with the COVID-19 pandemic, sedentariness and physical inactivity were reinforced, as the pandemic led to an increase in home studying. Physical activity (PA) breaks have been identified as promoting factors for university students' physical and mental health. Therefore, the present study explored an approach to nudge students to take PA breaks at home while studying. The purpose was to test the effectiveness of digital nudging for PA breaks for 10 days using a randomized intervention design during the COVID-19 pandemic. It included an intervention group who received daily digital motivational prompts for PA break videos and a minimal intervention control group who got low-level access to PA break videos via a one-time link sent to the media library. Using a sample of university students in the southwest of Germany (n = 57), two-level binary logistic regression models were calculated to predict daily participation in PA breaks during the intervention period depending on the nudging intervention, as well as previous participation in PA breaks, the general PA level of the subjects before the intervention, the time spent on PA and on home studying in a day, the kind of day during the intervention (weekday vs. weekend), and the students' age. Results revealed that the digital nudging intervention did not show any significant effect on the likelihood to participate in PA breaks on a given day (0.69 ≤ β ≤ 0.75, p > 0.3). Instead, an individual-level effect revealed that the longer a student studied at home over the course of a day, the more likely he or she was to take a PA break (1.07 ≤ β ≤ 1.11, p < 0.001). Current findings show that individual characteristics such as daily time spent on home studying, which can change over the course of the intervention phase, are relevant considerations within nudging intervention in university setting. This provides initial insights especially for digital PA breaks for students during home studying.

Improving Students Argumentation Learning with Adaptive Self-Evaluation Nudging

Recent advantages from computational linguists can be leveraged to nudge students with adaptive self-evaluation based on their argumentation skill level. To investigate how individual argumentation self-evaluation will help students write more convincing texts, we designed an intelligent argumentation writing support system called ArgumentFeedback based on nudging theory and evaluated it in a series of three qualitative and quantitative studies with a total of 83 students. We found that students who received a self-evaluation nudge wrote more convincing texts with a better quality of formal and perceived argumentation compared to the control group. The measured self-efficacy and the technology acceptance provide promising results for embedding adaptive argumentation writing support tools in combination with digital nudging in traditional learning settings to foster self-regulated learning. Our results indicate that the design of nudging-based learning applications for self-regulated learning combined with computational methods for argumentation self-evaluation has a beneficial use to foster better writing skills of students.

The Impossible, the Unlikely, and the Probable Nudges: A Classification for the Design of Your Next Nudge

Nudging provides a way to gently influence people to change behavior towards a desired goal, e.g., by moving towards a healthier or more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Personalized and context-aware digital nudging (named smart nudging) can be a powerful tool for efficient nudging by tailoring nudges to the current situation of each individual user. However, designing smart nudges is challenging, as different users may need different supports to improve their behavior. Determining the next nudge for a specific user must be done based on the user’s current situation, abilities, and potential for improvement. In this paper, we focus on the challenge of designing the next nudge by presenting a novel classification of nudges that distinguishes between (i) nudges that are impossible for the user to follow, (ii) nudges that are unlikely to be followed, and (iii) probable nudges that the user can follow. The classification is tailored to individual users based on user profiles, current situations, and knowledge of previous behaviors. This paper describes steps in the nudge design process and a novel set of principles for designing smart nudges.

Social distance "nudge:" a context aware mHealth intervention in response to COVID pandemics.

The impact of the COVID pandemic to our society is unprecedented in our time. As coronavirus mutates, maintaining social distance remains an essential step in defending personal as well as public health. This study conceptualizes the social distance “nudge” and explores the efficacy of mHealth digital intervention, while developing and validating a choice architecture that aims to influence users’ behavior in maintaining social distance for their own self-interest. End-user nudging experiments were conducted via a mobile phone app that was developed as a research artifact. The accuracy of social distance nudging was validated in both United States and Japan. Future work will consider behavioral studies to better understand the effectiveness of this digital nudging intervention.

Is there a Social Impact Paradox in Cross-Channel Communication? A Management Perspective

Customers use multiple channels to inform themselves about products and services before making a buying decision. As companies provide information on their owned platforms, their customers experience a multi-channel journey on their way to the company website. While companies try to nudge potential customers into consuming provided information, potential effects of previous customers experiences (such as social media browsing) on the effect of digital nudges (i.e. social norms) and the perception of such guidance are not thoroughly investigated yet. First studies imply that customers react differently to nudges depending on their previous channel experience. This paper contributes by focusing on digital nudging during the pre-purchase phase of the customer journey. The potential effect of social norm nudges on information search intentions and the influence of previous social media usage are investigated. Two online experiments examined previous social media usage as a potential moderator of the social norms nudge efficacy as well as the influence of previous social media usage on the perception of social norms nudges. Results show that previous social media usage influences perception as well as the efficacy of a social norms nudge on a company website in certain circumstances. Although social norms do not always significantly affect user behavior, users that consumed social media before seeing a social norms nudge, have an altered perception of these nudges. Choice architects implementing digital nudges are challenged to carefully consider such effects when applying nudges on their user interfaces.

Raising student engagement using digital nudges tailored to students' motivation and perceived ability levels

AbstractParticipation in educational activities is an important prerequisite for academic success, yet often proves to be particularly challenging in digital settings. Therefore, this study set out to increase participation in an online proctored formative statistics exam by digital nudging. We exploited targeted nudges based on the Fogg Behaviour Model, highlighting the relevance of acknowledging differences in motivation and ability in allocating nudges to elicit target behaviour. First, we assessed whether pre‐existing levels of motivation and perceived ability to participate are effective in identifying different propensities of responsiveness to plain untailored nudges. Next, we evaluated whether tailoring nudges to students' motivation and perceived ability levels increases target behaviour by means of a randomized field experiment in which 579 first‐year university students received 6 consecutive emails over the course of three weeks to nudge behaviour regarding successful participation in the online exam. First, the results point out that motivation explains differences in engagement as indicated by student responsiveness and participation, whereas the perceived ability to participate does not. Second, the results from the randomized field experiment indicate that tailored nudging did not improve observed engagement. Implications for the potential of providing motivational information to improve participation in online educational activities are discussed, as are alternatives for capturing perceived ability more effectively.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Participation in educational activities is an important prerequisite for academic success, yet often proves to be particularly challenging in digital settings. Students' internal barriers to online participation and persistence in higher education are lack of motivation and perceived ability. Nudging interventions tackle students' behavioural barriers, and are particularly effective when guided by a theory of behaviour change, and when targeting students who suffer most from those barriers. What this paper adds This study examines whether the Fogg Behaviour Model is suited to guide a nudging intervention with the aim to increase student engagement in online higher education. This study examines whether students with different levels of motivation and perceived ability vary in their online behaviour in response to nudges. This study experimentally evaluates whether targeted nudges—targeted at students' motivation and perceived ability—are more effective than plain (not‐targeted) nudges. Implications for practice and/or policy The results indicate the importance of motivation for performing nudged behaviours regarding successful participation in an online educational activity. The results do not provide evidence for the role of perceived digital ability, yet do show prior performance on a similar educational activity can effectively distinguish between students' responsiveness. Targeted nudges were not more effective than plain nudges, but the potential of other motivational nudges and how to increase perceived performance are discussed.

Digital nudging for technical debt management at Credit Suisse

ABSTRACT Technical debt (TD) is a technical compromise wherein the ability to maintain information technology (IT) applications over the long term is sacrificed for short-term goals. TD occurs when software development teams undergo constant pressure to release applications swiftly, on a tight schedule. The accumulation of TD, which often leads to a significant cost surplus, presents a ubiquitous challenge in technology-driven organisations. To keep TD levels under control, many organisations implement top-down mechanisms that impose enterprise-wide principles on software development teams. This clinical research presents a complementary but distinct approach to managing TD. A digital nudge was introduced at Credit Suisse, a global financial services company, to help raise awareness and understanding, and stimulate actions related to TD decision-making in software development teams. This paper reports on the nudge’s clinical design, implementation, impact, and evaluation. As the nudge was effective in reducing TD in IT applications after one year of use, we demonstrate that digital nudges are viable means for guiding collective decisions in complex decision environments like that of TD management. Our findings have several implications for research and practice.

Effects of digital nudging on the adoption of APPs for value co-creation among online consumers

Effects of digital nudging on the adoption of APPs for value co-creation among online consumers

O14 Digital Nudging as a Trigger for Healthy Eating Among Young Adults

O14 Digital Nudging as a Trigger for Healthy Eating Among Young Adults

Click me…! The influence of clickbait on user engagement in social media and the role of digital nudging.

Clickbait to make people click on a linked article is commonly used on social media. We analyze the impact of clickbait on user interaction on Facebook in the form of liking, sharing and commenting. For this, we use a data set of more than 4,400 Facebook posts from 10 different news sources to analyze how clickbait in post headlines and in post text influences user engagement. The results of our study revealed that certain features (e.g., unusual punctuation and common clickbait phrases) increase user interaction, whereas others decrease engagement with Facebook posts. We further use our results to discuss the potential role of digital nudging in the context of clickbait. Our results contribute to understanding and making use of the effect of different framings in social media.

Digitally Nudged Learning

The research focused on two elements of technology enhanced learning: the digital nudge and gamified online learning. The objective was to digitally nudge students towards a gamified online learning tool, thereby improving quiz test performance through a fun motivating language learning game. A mixed methods approach: the primary quasi-experimental methodology was regression discontinuity design, with a follow up survey. The findings show that few students actively participated in the fun gamified activities, yet none-the-less there was a significant 5% treatment effect afforded by the digitally nudged call to action. The research demonstrates the effectiveness of nudging students to complete L2 learning activity. It also somewhat shows the potential of gamification for voluntary engagement amongst first-year students at a Japanese university.&#x0D; Keywords—Digital nudge, Online learning, Gamification, L2 teaching/learning strategies.

Is the future of bitcoin safe? A triangulation approach in the reality of BTC market through a sentiments analysis.

Bitcoin (BTC) prices are fluctuating continuously to the extremes. The Bitcoin market witnessed a crash during the second quarter of 2021 that was purely guided by the investors’ sentiments. Are the Bitcoin prices influenced only by market sentiments or do any factors influence them? In this paper, we applied a triangulation approach; mixed-methods research was used in which a qualitative study was complemented by a quantitative method. Both the qualitative and quantitative data of time periods 2016–2021 were examined to find whether the Bitcoin market prices are influenced by market sentiments. For analysing market sentiments, the posts and sentiments from 2016 to 2021 of an internet forum “Bitcointalk” were used. For strengthening the findings of qualitative analysis, we used quantitative data of the BTC market. We also used search data from Google Trends for providing further insights. Our research shows a crossmatch between quantitative trends on Bitcoin market prices and qualitative matrix of sentiments. We have also observed an artificial investment intention in the form of digital nudges playing the field of the Bitcoin market to boost investment.

Nudging Private Ryan: Mobile Microgiving under Economic Incentives and Audience Effects

Technology-augmented choice-making impacts many facets of business. The use of economic incentives under the ubiquitous mobile ecosystem for prosocial behavior has been shown to be particularly effective. We build on the previous work on this topic and study how mobile-based economic incentives and environments influence charitable giving behavior. In contrast to traditional fund-raising, we consider the use of mobile devices to generate giving in small denominations, which we term microgiving. In collaboration with a US-based mobile app provider, we incorporated a functionality that allowed users to contribute their in-app reward points to charity. To encourage donations, we used economic incentives in the form of monetary subsidies, i.e., rebates or matching grants, as well as digital nudges in the form of push notifications. We studied the effects of these factors on giving behavior across two large-scale field experiments. Focusing on the different aspects of smartphones that could differentially impact charitable giving behavior—namely the intensely private and personal nature of smartphones—we examined how the visibility of donation decisions affects giving behavior by toggling audience effects. Our results show that the effectiveness of incentives is contingent upon the magnitude of the incentive as well as the extent to which individual decisions are visible to others. To situate our results in relation to the traditional medium of charitable giving, we propose an analytical model that internalizes the subsidy rates and the audience effect. This study provides initial empirical evidence and an analytical model to advance technology-augmented charitable giving that can provide insights to organizations and service providers.

THE EFFECT OF A DIGITAL HEALTH INTERVENTION ON THE CONTROL OF HYPERTENSION AMONG PEOPLE LIVING WITH CANCER

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of a digital health intervention on the control of hypertension among people living with cancer. Design and method: This was a retrospective study of 101 participants (average age of 67 years old) living with cancer and hypertension enrolled on mDoc’s digital CompleteHealthô platform between February 2020 to November 2021. The people were connected with a coach-led multidisciplinary team that provided self-care support and encouragement via CompleteHealthô. The multidisciplinary team engaged the people with regular digital nudges on monitoring their blood pressure, health education, nutritional advice, virtual exercise classes and co-created personalised action plans with them. Specialised support for their cancer diagnosis included ensuring adherence to their oncology treatment regimens. The change in blood pressure was calculated as the difference between their initial blood pressure value and the average of all subsequent blood pressure values entered on CompleteHealthô. Results: Of the 101 people with cancer and hypertension enrolled on the CompleteHealthô, 98 (97.0%) had at least one interaction with a health coach and 84 (83.2%) entered at least 1 subsequent blood pressure value after their baseline while 57 (56.4%) of them had entered at least 5 subsequent values. Of those with at least 1 value, 63 (75%) had a controlled BP while 48 (84.2%) of those with at least 5 values had controlled BP at the end-line. People with at least 1 subsequent value saw a change of 0.3 mmHg and 1.3 mmHg in their systolic and diastolic blood pressure respectively while people with at least 5 values saw a 2 mmHg and 1.7mmHg reduction in their systolic and diastolic blood pressures respectively. Conclusions: Our findings show that a digital health intervention was able to help people living with cancer and hypertension reduce their blood pressure via the use of a web platform, digital nudges, encouragement on the need to check blood pressure at home, exercise, and modification of lifestyles. It also showed that a greater number of interactions with the health coaches led to a greater reduction in blood pressure.

DIGITAL INTERVENTIONS TO DRIVE SELF-MANAGEMENT IN PEOPLE WITH HYPERTENSION IN NIGERIA

Objective: To examine whether a higher number of virtual interactions with health coaches through a digital health platform would lead to a greater reduction in blood pressure than people with a lower number of interactions. Design and method: The participants were 447 people with hypertension or a baseline blood pressure value of 140/90 mmHg or higher (female, 77.6%. male, 20.8%. Average age 43.9 years) enrolled on the CompleteHealthô platform between April 2018 and April 2021 who had entered a subsequent blood pressure value after 6 months of enrollment. The change in blood pressure was calculated as the difference between their blood pressure after 6 months and their first blood pressure value entered on CompleteHealthô. Engagement after 6 months was defined across two levels: minimally engaged members who had at most 1 interaction with a health coach and highly engaged members who had more than 1 interaction with a health coach. Given that the members are generally low-income people, we determined more than 1 interaction as a significant threshold for engagement. By enrolling on mDoc Healthcare’s digital platform, CompleteHealthô, people were given access to self-care support via a virtual coach. They tracked their health metrics via the app, were given access to tele-education classes and community forums, and the coach provided health education and digital nudges on healthy behaviours to take, including regular blood pressure checks. Results: After 6 months, of the 447 people, 374 (83.7%) were highly engaged while 73 (16.3%) were minimally engaged. Highly engaged members saw an average reduction in their systolic and diastolic blood pressures of 13.6 mmHg and 10.4 mmHg respectively, while minimally engaged members saw reductions of 5.8 mmHg and 4.9 mmHg in their systolic and diastolic blood pressures. Limitations were that this did not take into account asynchronous engagement on the platform e.g. self-tracking, review of education messages etc. Conclusions: The results of the retrospective study show that increased engagement with a digital self-care intervention drives a higher reduction in blood pressure for people living with hypertension or an elevated blood pressure level.

GPS Digital Nudge to Limit Road Crashes in Non-Expert Drivers.

Many automotive industries are developing technologies to assist human drivers in suggesting wiser choices to improve drivers’ behaviour. The technology that makes use of this modality is defined as a “digital nudge”. An example of a digital nudge is the GPS that is installed on smartphones. Some studies have demonstrated that the use of GPS negatively affects environmental learning because of the transformation of some spatial skills. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the use of the GPS nudge and its relationship with spatial ability, together with its function in supporting the driving behaviour of non-expert drivers, in order to reduce the number of road crashes. A total of 88 non-expert drivers (M age = 21 years) filled in questionnaires and carried out tasks to measure spatial abilities, sense of direction, driver behaviour, and six different real-life driving scenarios. The results reveal that the higher the spatial skills are, the greater the GPS use is, and that drivers who use GPS improve their sense of direction. Moreover, people with high visuospatial abilities use GPS more extensively. Finally, young drivers do not consider the GPS aid to be useful when they have no time pressure. The results are discussed by taking into account the familiarity-and-spatial-ability model.

Battling Bias in Primary Care Encounters: Informatics Designs to Support Clinicians.

Although clinical training in implicit bias is essential for healthcare equity, major gaps remain both for effective educational strategies and for tools to help identify implicit bias. To understand the perspectives of clinicians on the design of these needed strategies and tools, we conducted 21 semi-structured interviews with primary care clinicians about their perspectives and design recommendations for tools to improve patient-centered communication and to help mitigate implicit bias. Participants generated three types of solutions to improve communication and raise awareness of implicit bias: digital nudges, guided reflection, and data-driven feedback. Given the nuance of implicit bias communication feedback, these findings illustrate innovative design directions for communication training strategies that clinicians may find acceptable. Improving communication skills through individual feedback designed by clinicians for clinicians has the potential to improve healthcare equity.

A Pilot Feasibility Study of Digital Health Coaching for Men With Prostate Cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the United States. The majority of prostate cancer treatment occurs in the ambulatory setting, and patients and their caregivers take on significant responsibility for monitoring and managing treatment and disease-related toxicity. Digital health coaching has shown promise as a tool to positively influence outcomes. We completed a single-arm pilot study to assess the feasibility of digital health coaching in men with prostate cancer. Men with a history of prostate cancer requiring treatment in the past 2 years were eligible for inclusion. Participants engaged in a 12-week health coaching program, consisting of a combination of at least one telephone call and up to four digital nudges (defined as content delivered via text, e-mail, or app on the basis of the participant's preference) per week. Prostate cancer-specific content addressed one of the following topics each week: fatigue, pain management, healthy eating, exercise, managing incontinence, sexual health, managing stress and anxiety, financial toxicity, goal setting during treatment, managing side effects, communicating with the health care team, and medication adherence. Services were provided at no cost to the participant. A hundred patients were consented for the study, and 88 enrolled. The feasibility threshold of 60% was met with 63 of the 88 enrolled individuals completing the 3-month program (proportion = 71.6%; 90% CI, 62.6 to 79.4; P = .016). Digital health coaching for men with prostate cancer is feasible. These findings support further evaluation of digital health coaching for men with prostate cancer in larger randomized controlled trials.