From attitude to identity? A field experiment on attitude activation, identity formation, and meat reduction

Randers, Louise; Thøgersen, John

doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.101996

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Supporting previous research examining meat consumption (Campbell-Arvai et al, 2014;Hansen et al, 2021;Randers & Thøgersen, 2023;Taufik et al, 2022), this study shows the positive impact that default nudges have on reducing consumption of environmentally harmful foods in real-world food settings. The large environmental impact of animal agriculture (Poore & Nemecek, 2018), linked with the overconsumption of animal products in the global north (Ritchie & Roser, 2019), means that western consumers' diets need to be less reliant on meat and dairy and become more plant-based.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

“…While findings from the present study provide promising implications on the employment of default nudges in aiding plant-based milk consumption, the study raises an important consideration on their long-term effectiveness. Research examining default nudges (and nudges more generally) has tended to focus on their short-term impact, usually testing the nudge's impact over a series of weeks or months Hansen et al, 2021;Randers & Thøgersen, 2023;Taufik et al, 2022). While the present study took the same short-term perspective, the decrease in plantbased milk consumption during the second intervention phase compared to the first, illustrates the potential for effectiveness of default nudges to diminish over time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…For example, Hansen et al (2021) found that conference attendees whose catering choice defaulted to a vegetarian option ate significantly more vegetarian meals compared to attendees who received a meat option default (86-89% versus 2-12.5%), even though participants were able to select a meat choice instead. Similarly, Danish students ate more meat-free meals when allocated to a default vegetarian meal choice with a meat option available upon request (Randers & Thøgersen, 2023), and providing students at an American university with a default vegetarian menu while placing a meat menu nearby increased the likelihood of a vegetarian meal being selected, even when the meal options were perceived as unappealing (Campbell-Arvai et al, 2014). This was also replicated in Swedish and Dutch restaurants, with customers who received a default vegetarian menu consuming more meat-free meals than those who received a meat menu, even though they were informed that a meat option was available upon request Taufik et al, 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Impact of a default nudge intervention on plant-based milk consumption in a UK university café

Major-Smith,

Borne,

Wallis

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Encouraging plant-based food consumption among western consumers is vital for reducing the environmental impacts of animal agriculture. This study examined the impact of a default nudge intervention on sustainable plant-based milk consumption in a UK university café using an ABAB experimental design. During the intervention phases, the menu’s default milk option was changed from dairy milk to oat milk. In the first intervention phase we found that café customers were approximately three times more likely to consume plant-based milk when oat milk was the default milk option instead of dairy milk (from 16.6% to 51.9%). However, the intervention effect was smaller in the second intervention phase compared to the first (from 51.9% to 46.0%), potentially questioning the long-term impact of default nudges on sustainable food consumption. Comparable data in a second café at the same university found no differences in plant-based milk intake during the study period, suggesting that the observed changes in plant-based milk consumption were due to the default nudge. Based on these intervention effects, the average milk-based carbon footprint per drink was estimated to have reduced by 25-34%. These findings suggest that default nudges can encourage plant-based food consumption by reducing dairy intake and increasing plant-based milk consumption. This provides implications for the adoption of sustainable default nudges in both the university and wider food sector to help increase plant-based diets among consumers and reduce the environmental damage caused by animal agriculture.

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