Message and Environment: a framework for nudges and choice architecture

Abstract

We argue that the diverse components of a choice architecture can be classified into two main dimensions -Message and Environment -and that the distinction between them is useful in order to better understand how nudges work. In the first part of this paper, we define what we mean by nudge, explain what Message and Environment are, argue that the distinction between them is conceptually robust and show that it is also orthogonal to other distinctions advanced in the nudge literature. In the second part, we review some common types of nudges and show they target either Message or Environment or both dimensions of the choice architecture. We then apply the Message-Environment framework to discuss some features of Amazon's website and, finally, we indicate how the proposed framework could help a choice architect to design a new choice architecture.

A review of nudges: Definitions, justifications, effectiveness

“…The original definition of a nudge has gone through a series of refinements or modifications aimed at improving it (e.g., Congiu & Moscati, 2020; Hansen, 2016; Hausman & Welch, 2010; Mongin & Cozic, 2018; Saghai, 2013).…”

“…In effect, many real‐world marketing techniques appear to work just like nudges: they preserve the consumer's freedom of choice (e.g., a particular arrangement of items on a shelf or web page) but in fact exploit his cognitive biases (e.g., the automatic renewal of a subscription, which exploits inertia and forgetfulness). For example, as discussed by Congiu and Moscati (2020), Amazon advertises certain products as “Amazon's choice” or “frequently bought,” targeting inertia and social conformity, and uses decoys in terms of displaying inferior products together with the product of interest (for an exhaustive overview of marketing techniques from a behavioral‐economics perspective, see Foxall, 2016, especially Part II).…”

Not So Digital After All? A Look at the Nature of Digital Nudging through the Prism of the Digital Object Concept

“…However, such a view limits digital nudging to graphical choice environments and does not necessarily align with the recent debate on digital objects. The definition of choice environment envisages the possibility of the choice environment being 'physical or virtual' [23]. In the IS literature on digital nudging, there is little discussion on what the digital choice environments are or how their 'digital' properties change the phenomenon of nudging.…”

From libertarian paternalism to liberalism: behavioural science and policy in an age of new technology

“…In behavioural science, however, it is well known that information itself is not sufficient to modify behaviour (Thaler & Sunstein, 2008;Marteau et al, 2012). Indeed, whereas people may decide to change after seeing data about their activities, it is how the data are presented to them that should eventually determine their motivation and prompt the efforts to change (Johnson et al, 2012;Otten et al, 2015;Congiu & Moscati, 2020). Therefore, to maximize the potential of self-quantification, policy makers should work on developing and testing the tools of effective self-tracking data visualization, and these tools should ideally go beyond the most popular domains such as physical activity or eating and apply to a broad range of domains people may be interested in.…”