Comparison of three nudge interventions (priming, default option, and perceived variety) to promote vegetable consumption in a self-service buffet setting

Abstract

BackgroundDietary choices in out-of-home eating are key for individual as well as for public health. These dietary choices are caused by a wide array of determinants, one of which is automatic decision-making. Nudging is attracting considerable interest due to its understanding and application of heuristic biases among consumers. The aim of this study is to test and compare three nudges in promoting vegetable consumption among test persons in a food lab-based experiment.MethodsThe initial sample consisted of 88 participants recruited in Copenhagen, Denmark. Each study participant was randomly assigned to one of the three experiments: priming, default and perceived variety. The priming arm of the experiment consisted of creating a leafy environment with green plants and an odour of herbs. In the default arm of the experiment, the salad was pre-portioned into a bowl containing 200g of vegetables. The third experiment divided the pre-mixed salad into each of its components, to increase the visual variety of vegetables, yet not providing an actual increase in items. Each individual was partaking twice thus serving as her/his own control, randomly assigned to start with control or experimental setting.ResultsThe default experiment successfully increased the energy intake from vegetables among the study participants (124 kcal vs. 90 kcal in control, p<0.01). Both the priming condition and perceived variety reduced the total energy intake among the study participants (169 kcal, p<0.01 and 124 kcal, p<0.01, respectively), mainly through a decrease in the meat-based meal component.ConclusionsConsiderable progress has been made with regard to understanding the use of nudging in promoting a healthier meal composition, including increasing vegetable intake. This study suggests that the nature of a nudge-based intervention can have different effects, whether it is increasing intake of healthy components, or limiting intake of unhealthy meal components. This work has demonstrated that consumer behaviour can be influenced without restricting or providing incentives for behaviour change. The present findings have promising application to the foodservice sector.

How green defaults promote environmentally friendly decisions: Attitude‐conditional default acceptance but attitude‐unconditional effects on actual choices

“…Such green defaults have been found to effectively guide people's contributions to carbon offsetting programs (Araña & León, 2013), paper use (Egebark & Ekström, 2016), and choice of a renewable energy provider (Vetter & Kutzner, 2016). Green defaults have also been shown to support sustainability outside private homes by automatically switching computers in a university computer lab to stand-by (Hirst, Reed, Kaplan, & Miller, 2013), reducing the room temperature in offices (Brown, Johnstone, Haščič, Vong, & Barascud, 2013) and increasing the share of vegetables during lunch through pre-portioned bowls (Friis et al, 2017). Interestingly, whereas all of these studies have demonstrated the power of green defaults to guide environmentally friendly consumer behavior in the broadest sense, no research to date has assessed the impact of green defaults on sustainable shopping (e.g., buying organic food, beverages in bottles or recycled paper towels; but see Demarque, Charalambides, Hilton, & Waroquier, 2015, for the effect of norm-based nudges on sustainable shopping behavior).…”

Promotion of novel plant-based dishes among older consumers using the ‘dish of the day’ as a nudging strategy in 4 EU countries

“…Moreover, with the rising use of catering facilities, food-away-from-home makes up a larger proportion of food consumption (Bes-Rastrollo et al, 2010;Kearney, Hulshof, & Gibney, 2001;O'Dwyer, McCarthy, Burke, & Gibney, 2005;Orfanos et al, 2009). Incorporating the nudging method into catering sectors can be an opportunity to improve consumers' eating behaviour (Friis et al, 2017;Lachat et al, 2011). Default as an important nudging strategy influences much of people's food choice (House of Lords, 2011).…”

Food Rating Scale in Food Services: From Development to Assessment of a Strategy for Consumer Healthier Choices

“…It is noteworthy that people are eating out and meals prepared at home have been replaced by fast meals, in places of easy access and fast service [ 2 , 3 ]. As part of the modern lifestyle, eating out has a central role in providing a sense of quality in diets and ensuring public health [ 4 ]. In this context, eating out has been increasing the consumption of fatty, salty and sugary foods, with a high energy density (ED) and low fiber content [ 5 , 6 , 7 ], as well as larger portion sizes [ 4 ].…”