Explore the vast range of titles available.

Over the past decade, choice architecture interventions or so-called nudges have received widespread attention from both researchers and policy makers. Built on insights from the behavioral sciences, this class of behavioral interventions focuses on the design of choice environments that facilitate personally and socially desirable decisions without restricting people in their freedom of choice. Drawing on more than 200 studies reporting over 450 effect sizes (n = 2,149,683), we present a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of choice architecture interventions across techniques, behavioral domains, and contextual study characteristics. Our results show that choice architecture interventions overall promote behavior change with a small to medium effect size of Cohen’s d = 0.45 (95% CI [0.39, 0.52]). In addition, we find that the effectiveness of choice architecture interventions varies significantly as a function of technique and domain. Across behavioral domains, interventions that target the organization and structure of choice alternatives (decision structure) consistently outperform interventions that focus on the description of alternatives (decision information) or the reinforcement of behavioral intentions (decision assistance). Food choices are particularly responsive to choice architecture interventions, with effect sizes up to 2.5 times larger than those in other behavioral domains. Overall, choice architecture interventions affect behavior relatively independently of contextual study characteristics such as the geographical location or the target population of the intervention. Our analysis further reveals a moderate publication bias toward positive results in the literature. We end with a discussion of the implications of our findings for theory and behaviorally informed policy making.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to advance the understanding of consumer innovativeness during aging. This study explores why older consumers have decreased innovativeness and how awareness of age-related change affects the adoption of innovation. Design/methodology/approach A survey was conducted on 200 older consumers aged 50 and older to investigate whether awareness of age-related change influences innovativeness. Findings The results show that awareness of age-related change causes older consumers to have a decreased tendency to adopt novel products. Moreover, the stereotype threat of older consumers is found to play a mediating role. Older individuals who sense they are negatively viewed as older people restrict their innovativeness to avoid situations that would confirm their incompetence to others. Furthermore, the effects of older consumers’ stereotype threat on innovativeness are moderated by self-monitoring. Older consumers who exhibit high self-monitoring cope with stereotype threat by showing increased innovativeness; however, the opposite effect occurs in older consumers with low self-monitors. Originality/value The findings deepen the understanding of older adults’ consumption behavior regarding innovative products and show why people are reluctant to adopt innovative products and services because they grow older by identifying the underlying process that hinders customer innovativeness.

•CDC’s Vaccine Confidence & Demand (VCD) team was created for CDC’s COVID-19 response.•The VCD team developed CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccinate with Confidence Strategy.•The strategy was implemented through behavioral insights, capacity building, and collaborations.•The VCD team was a critical component of the COVID-19 vaccination program.•Lessons learned inform how behavioral science can be integrated in future responses. In October 2020, the CDC’s Vaccinate with Confidence strategy specific to COVID-19 vaccines rollout was published. Adapted from an existing vaccine confidence framework for childhood immunization, the Vaccinate with Confidence strategy for COVID-19 aimed to improve vaccine confidence, demand, and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in the US. The objectives for COVID-19 were to 1. build trust, 2. empower healthcare personnel, and 3. engage communities and individuals. This strategy was implemented through a dedicated unit, the Vaccine Confidence and Demand (VCD) team, which collected behavioral insights; developed and disseminated toolkits and best practices in collaboration with partners; and collaborated with health departments and community-based organizations to engage communities and individuals in behavioral interventions to strengthen vaccine demand and increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake. The VCD team collected and used social and behavioral data through establishing the Insights Unit, implementing rapid community assessments, and conducting national surveys. To strengthen capacity at state and local levels, the VCD utilized “Bootcamps,” a rapid training of trainers on vaccine confidence and demand, “Confidence Consults”, where local leaders could request tailored advice to address local vaccine confidence challenges from subject matter experts, and utilized surge staffing to embed “Vaccine Demand Strategists” in state and local public health agencies. In addition, collaborations with Prevention Research Centers, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the American Psychological Association furthered work in behavioral science, community engagement, and health equity. The VCD team operationalized CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccine with Confidence strategy through behavioral insights, capacity building opportunities, and collaborations to improve COVID-19 vaccine confidence, demand, and uptake in the US. The inclusion of applied behavioral science approaches were a critical component of the COVID-19 vaccination program and provides lessons learned for how behavioral science can be integrated in future emergency responses.

The presence of civilian witnesses and victims in court is central to the effective operation of the criminal justice system. However, there is evidence of significant non-attendance which can result in ineffective and cracked trials. To address this, West Midlands Police Witness Care Unit and the Behavioural Insights Team designed an intervention using behavioural insight principles consisting of (1) a new conversation guide for Witness Care Officers (WCOs); (2) a redesigned ‘Warning Letter’ confirming details of the proceedings; and (3) a new reminder call and SMS. The impact of the new approach was evaluated through a randomised controlled trial in which 36 WCOs were randomly assigned to either “business as usual” (control) or treatment. The evaluation used an intention-to-treat design with implementation guided and encouraged at several points. Subgroup analysis was undertaken to explore whether differential effects were seen for domestic violence cases or between those that were victims and witnesses. Results indicated that the treatment approach was directionally positive in all cases, but that the increase in attendance was not statistically significant. This is in line with findings of other similar research in this area.

This paper examines the effect of build environment regulations for facades emergency repairs and embellishment, as implemented by the city of Cluj-Napoca, the second largest municipality in Romania. The scope was to identify to what extent the over taxation measure was efficient in generating compliant behaviour and what secondary effects it may have generated in people’s attitude towards the local authorities. We conducted structured interviews with 25 homeowners targeted by the policy. The qualitative analysis uncovers structural issues on how the policy was implemented and communicated to the population. It further acknowledges difficulties in managing mixed property and collective actions. We interpret the findings as a first step towards building a more comprehensive research framework focused also on included behavioural insights, as captured by our recommendations. Namely, they illustrate that homeowners were critical about the measure, both in its rationale and its implementation, and were unable to act upon a cost-benefit analysis given the ambiguous available information. The findings further acknowledge difficulties in managing mixed property and collective actions, but they also hint favourably towards the role of peer effects, expressed here as compliant neighbours’ behaviour. We interpret the results of this exploratory case study as a first step towards building a more comprehensive approach to serve as a toolkit in examining the development of innovative local policies in post-communist environments, through a combined research framework including also the significant contribution of behavioural insights, next to the traditional rational actor theories. Naturally, the usual limitations of the method also apply to our study, in the sense of non-generalizable conclusions. This fuels up the need for further research on similar regional and urban challenges in an extended multiple-case study scheme.

In recent decades, interest in and application of behavioral insights to conservation theory and practice have expanded significantly. Yet the growth of integrated strategies to adapt and guide human behavior in service of conservation outcomes has included limited engagement with questions of equity and power. Here we examine the use of behavioral approaches in conservation efforts, emphasizing potential misapplications that may result from omitting equity and power considerations. Such omission may lead to an overemphasis on the role of individual behaviors relative to system‐level drivers of biodiversity loss, result in misalignment between behavioral interventions and the actual drivers of behavior in situ, and incur unanticipated negative social welfare and distributional costs, all of which may undermine conservation success. We offer recommendations for centering equity when applying behavioral insights to conservation, including strategies for high‐level agenda setters (scholars, advocates, funders and programmatic leaders) as well as conservation practitioners. The urgent need for biodiversity conservation is insufficient reason to side‐step equity and power considerations; we contend that centering equity is consistent with this urgency and key for developing sustainable conservation theory and practice.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) rapid antigen point-of-care and home tests are available to laypeople. In four cross-sectional mixed-methods data collections conducted between December 2020 and March 2021 (n = 4,026), we showed that a majority of subjects were willing to test despite mistrust and ignorance regarding rapid tests’ validity. Experimental evidence shows that low costs and access to events could increase testing intentions. Mandatory reporting and isolation after positive results were not identified as major barriers. Instead, assuming that testing and isolation can slow down the pandemic and the possibility to protect others were related to greater willingness to get tested. While we did not find evidence for risk compensation for past tests, experimental evidence suggests that there is a tendency to show less mask wearing and physical distancing in a group of tested individuals. A short communication intervention reduced complacent behavior. The derived recommendations could make rapid testing a successful pillar of pandemic management.

This brief essay offers a general introduction to the idea of nudging, along with a list of 10 of the most important “nudges.” It also provides a short discussion of the question whether to create some kind of separate “behavioral insights unit,” capable of conducting its own research, or instead to rely on existing institutions.

PurposeThis paper develops an evidence-based conceptual framework for exploring the applicability of choice architecture in business relationships.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical studies of choice architecture in various fields are systematically reviewed to identify choice architecture techniques; major resulting categories of techniques are then discussed for applicability to business relationship contexts, and avenues for research are outlined.FindingsManagerial decision-making is potentially influenced by changes to choice contexts that (1 provide additional information from outside the choice context, (2) facilitate a particular way of comparing options, (3) present options in new ways, (4) rework the choice set, e.g. by adding options and (5) create internal states that push toward a target choice.Originality/valueThe paper introduces the concept of choice architecture to business relationships. It develops a taxonomy of choice architecture techniques to guide the exploration of choice architecture effects in business relationships.