Searching for the universality of nudging: A cross-cultural comparison of the information effects of reminding people about familial support

Abstract

Nudging is a method for eliciting a desired behavior. One approach to nudging involves information provision. When information presented for this purpose is designed from an evolutionary perspective, it may reveal a deeper level of rationality within human decision-making that might otherwise appear to be irrational. Based on insights from the evolution of altruism, we previously designed a message to remind people of the benefits they have received from the actions of relatives to realize industrialization. We then demonstrated that using this message in Japan was effective at moderating extreme risk-averse attitudes toward air pollution resulting from industrialization. However, the universality of the intervention effect, including whether it could be affected by exogenous factors, was not explored. Therefore, in the present study, we conducted a randomized controlled trial based on an online survey carried out in Japan, Canada, and the US. The intervention was shown to be effective in all the three countries, but the effect size varied according to segment. Although women showed more intervention effects than men in Japan and the US, no significant sex difference was observed in Canada. In terms of personality traits, higher agreeableness significantly contributed to the intervention effects. The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, which necessitated many lifestyle changes, was found to weaken the intervention effect by increasing the message effect in the control group. We propose that this effect was caused by an increased perception of familial support in everyday life. These results suggest that the nudge message was universally effective, although the effect size might have been affected by cultural factors and social events.

Effect of information provision by familial nudging on attitudes toward offshore wind power

“…These trends were similar to our previous studies that investigated the message effects highlighting familial support to moderate risk-averse attitudes on a wide variety of topics [ 33 – 36 ]. The maximum values for these correlation coefficients were 0.12 [ 34 ], 0.21 [ 35 ], and 0.13 [ 36 ], respectively. The maximum value for our current study was 0.13, which was within the value range from our previous similar studies, and thus is reasonable.…”

“…COVID pr measured how much respondents were preoccupied with COVID-19. These variables were introduced because we found that attitudes to COVID-19 could influence the intervention effects for other topics [ 34 , 35 ]. OWP se was a dummy variable to identify whether respondents have seen OWP before or not, considering that familiarity with the risk source could moderate risk-averse attitudes [ 43 ].…”

“…The average responses for both Yourself and Future generations were lower than Neutral. Thus, the attitudes can be judged as relatively safe, compared with air pollution caused by industrialization [ 34 ] or disposable plastics [ 35 ]. Despite these overall tendencies to perceive OWP as safe, the perceptions for Future generations were significantly more dangerous than for Yourself, suggesting potential anxiety for the future of the technologies.…”

“…Thus, we sought to promote a sense of being supported by kin by using messages for information provision, assuming that reminding people of familial support would have similar effects to actual familial support. The effects of our designed messages were then investigated in the real world, with applications including moderating risk-averse attitudes toward air pollution caused by industrialization [ 33 , 34 ], disposable plastics [ 35 ], and IT innovations [ 36 ]. In these previous studies, we designed the messages to highlight that the target technologies have a history of having been developed in our parents’ and grandparents’ generations and are supporting our everyday life in various ways.…”

The Nudging Effect of a Reminder Letter to Reduce Duplicated Medications

“…However, the cost of sending reminders should be considered, especially when developing a real-world intervention policy. Meanwhile, previous study has indicated that nudging effects may vary due to factors like personal traits, cultural distinctions, and social settings 48 . Considering personal factors like age and gender for tailored reminder letters is recommended when developing the intervention.…”