Lowering the harm of tourist activities: a systematic literature review on nudges

Abstract

Tourists harm the destination's environment in many different ways. Behavioural economics (BE) contributes to the formulation of public and private policies to reduce this harm, and its use is growing in the tourism industry. The nudging agenda is converging with tourism, with managers and policymakers realising that the implementation of nudges leads to lower costs and higher effectiveness of behavioural changes, decreasing the harm produced by tourists. However, little effort has been made to comprehend the relationship between nudges and tourism sustainability. To fill this gap, this paper systematises the literature on nudge interventions in tourism and sustainability studies. Our results present the main disciplinary background used in these investigations, with Anglo-Saxon countries leading research on green nudges. The methodological approach adopted by the nudge studies is limited, and causal evidence is lacking. The thematic analysis categorises the interventions and supports the idea that nudges target both unconscious and conscious behaviours. The preferred interventions are the ones with a low-cost application, such as bed linen reuse. Social norms are the main trigger for developing hypotheses and designing nudges. Our study also presents the mediators and moderators of pro-environmental behaviours (PEBs) and develops a model to design nudges in the tourism industry. Theoretical, managerial contributions and suggestions for future studies are also discussed.

The INPReS Intervention Escalation Framework for Avoiding Overcrowding in Tourism Destinations

“…However, some debates have come up regarding the ethical justification of interventions such as nudging since the methods often deal with a lack of transparency, with people possibly not being aware of being influenced as well as fear of manipulation, e.g., [8,39,40,50,70]. Therefore, using intervention strategies in the context of digital visitor management, it is necessary to evaluate which strategy would be both ethically justifiable and of greatest use to the destination, its tourism stakeholders, and the tourists.…”

“…Nudging is considered to be one of these approaches. It stems from both social psychology and behavioural economics [38,39], and is defined as "an intervention on the choice architecture that is predictably behavioursteering, but preserves the choice-set and is (at least) substantially non-controlling, and does not significantly change the economic incentives" [40] (p. 343). In digital choice environments, influencing people's behaviour with the help of user-interface design elements is known as digital nudging [41].…”

“…On top of that, nudges in digital visitor management decision can, at the same time, benefit the destination and promote a more sustainable behaviour. With regard to tourism, the nudging approach is, therefore, considered to be a useful tool for sustainable development [39] in destination management [52]. This is because customer centricity is a deeply inherent value in tourism, and is particularly practised in the field of hospitality management.…”

How consumer networks contribute to sustainable mindful consumption and well‐being

“…This can be done, for example, by adapting the choice architecture so that the most sustainable alternative is the easiest to choose. These so‐called nudges are also attracting more and more attention in the literature, for example, to promote sustainable food consumption (Vandenbroele et al, 2020), tourism (Souza‐Neto et al, 2022), fashion (Roozen et al, 2021), and many more (Lehner et al, 2016).…”

Facteurs d’efficacité des nudges verts pour des comportements plus éco-responsables – Revue systématique et pistes de recherche

“…La recherche s’est encore peu centrée sur les facteurs explicatifs/prédictifs de cette efficacité des nudges verts. Quand cela a été fait, les périmètres considérés étaient relativement restreints (Carlsson et al, 2021 ; Croson et Treich, 2014 ; Ouvrard, 2019 ; Schubert, 2017 ; Sunstein et Reisch, 2014) 5 et/ou avec des choix de focalisation souvent forts sur des disciplines (Andor et Fels, 2018), des domaines d’application (Andor et Fels, 2018 ; Barker et al, 2021 ; Hahn et Metcalfe, 2016 ; Lehner et al, 2016 ; Souza-Neto et al, 2022), des types de nudges (Andor et Fels, 2018 ; Farrow et al, 2017), des approches méthodologiques limitées ou faiblement justifiées (Carlsson et al, 2021 ; Ferrari et al, 2019 ; Hacker et Dimitropoulos, 2017 ; Ouvrard, 2019) ou encore des mesures autres que le comportement effectif (Sunstein et al, 2019). La volonté de la présente revue systématique sur les facteurs d’efficacité comportementale des green nudges est au contraire de couvrir tout le spectre des dispositifs de nudges verts des études recensées dès lors que ces derniers correspondent à notre définition (précisée à l’issue de la revue de littérature), sans exclusion de champs d’application s’ils sont pertinents au regard du défi du développement durable et plus spécialement du marketing durable et/ou du marketing social.…”