Influence of and Resistance to Nudge Decision-Making in Professionals

Abstract

This study investigated how professionals’ decision-making is influenced by nudging and their resistance to such a form of conditioning. A total of 61 professionals performed a nudge task in which three different scenarios related to wellbeing and sustainable behaviours were presented to the participants under boosted and soft nudge conditions. After the presentation of each scenario, participants were required to decide between two options of choice: one choice was more nudge-induced, the other was not. Electrophysiological (EEG), autonomic, behavioural, and self-report data were collected to determine the correlates of resistance with nudge conditions. The findings showed that professionals’ resistance to nudging is high and not influenced by boosted or soft nudges. Also, while the generalized increase in EEG delta, theta, and beta power localized and lateralized in the right temporoparietal regions can lay the foundation of “the neural architecture” of resistance to nudging, the significant increase in SCR for the boosted compared to soft condition highlighted the pivotal role of this marker as the only indicator that differentiates the two nudge conditions. Overall, evaluating the correlates of the resistance to nudge can be useful to render professionals aware of the explicit and implicit factors to be strengthened to resist to such form of conditioning.

Be Creative to Innovate! EEG Correlates of Group Decision-Making in Managers

“…The cognitive neuroscience perspective appears as a promising opportunity for exploring organizational creativity as a proxy for producing sustainable innovations in managers. A neuroscience interdisciplinary approach-which combines the observation of both the psychological and the neural standpoint-may offer broader interpretations of individuals cognition and emotions, in relation to all dimensions of sustainability [69,70]. Indeed, it must be acknowledged that human cognition is rooted in complex naturalistic environments (like organizations) and is socially situated in nature.…”

Neurophysiological and Autonomic Correlates of Metacognitive Control of and Resistance to Distractors in Ecological Setting: A Pilot Study

“…Mind Monitor applied a 50-hertz notch frequency filter, and data were then visually inspected to remove motor artifacts (such as jaw clenching and eyeblinks). Through the logarithm of the power spectral density of the raw EEG data from each channel, raw data were transformed by using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) into brain waves at various frequency bands: delta (1-4 Hz), theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (8-13 Hz), beta (13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), and gamma (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44). The recording of a 120-s baseline took place at the beginning of the experimental phase and, for each participant, EEG activity during the experimental conditions was weighted over baseline values.…”

“…This multimethodological approach was exploited in previous basic neuroscience research [28], as well as in applied neuroscience studies. The aims were to deepen the influence of and resistance to nudge decision-making in a group of professionals when performing a behavioural task in ecological conditions [29], as well as to explore the neurophysiological correlates of a novel behavioural task assessing decision-making functions [30].…”

Can professionals “keep the tiller straight” in organizations? Resistance to reframing and decoy alternatives in workplace decision-making

“…They were all employed in managerial divisions and the same job position for approximately 2 years at the time of the experiment. This criterion was chosen to avoid potential biases derived from situational factors, such as the potential increase of stress due to a new job position or a greater workload while adjusting to new tasks or obligations (Balconi et al, 2023a(Balconi et al, , 2023b. Moreover, to increase the generalizability of the findings, professionals were recruited from various internal divisions (for example, human resource management, training and professional learning, engineering and maintenance management, service quality monitoring, infrastructure management, and others) to increase the variety of the sample in terms of professional specialization.…”