Nudging to get our food choices on a sustainable track

Abstract

Food production is one of the major contributors to environmental damage. Adaptations in our food choices are needed to preserve resources for the needs of future generations. More sustainable consumption patterns have been encouraged by economic incentives, laws, education and communication campaigns. Nonetheless, consumers still find difficulties in trying to change their current food habits. This review takes a behavioural approach in encouraging sustainable food choices among consumers. From a nudging perspective, many behavioural changes can be encouraged in a non-obtrusive way by adapting the complex food environment in which consumers are operating. These interventions do not restrict consumers' choices but rather adapt the choice architecture wherein food decisions are made. Drawing on the literature from diverse theoretical perspectives, we provide an overview of the application of nudging for more sustainable food choices and highlight where more research is needed. More specifically, we discuss research that used nudging to engender cognitive impact (i.e. the use of labels or visibility enhancements), affective responses (i.e. sensorial and social influence cues) and behavioural effects (i.e. adjustments in convenience and product size). We conclude that this review only shows the tip of the iceberg of the research on nudging and sustainable consumption that is likely forthcoming in the next few years, following the successes of nudging applications in other domains. Nonetheless, each individual nudging intervention requires careful examination. Personal predispositions towards the environment should be considered when designing interventions, demonstrating the complementarity of nudging with education on sustainable consumption.

Environmentally Sustainable Food Consumption: A Review and Research Agenda From a Goal-Directed Perspective

“…Several studies have shown the effectiveness of nudging interventions to steer individuals to more ESFC (Ferrari et al, 2019), for example, by decreasing portion sizes of less sustainable meat (Vandenbroele et al, 2018), or by increasing visibility of meat substitutes (Vandenbroele et al, 2020a) or more sustainable meat (Coucke et al, 2019). Nudges for ESFC at the point of purchase can be categorized according to whether the nudge exerts an influence on consumers' cognition (i.e., consumer knowledge), affect (i.e., consumers' feelings) or behavior (i.e., motor responses) (Cadario and Chandon, 2019), as reviewed in Vandenbroele et al (2020b). Vandenbroele et al (2020b) discuss several future research areas that could be worthwhile investigating like the effect of interventions increasing the availability perceptions of environmentally sustainable food products.…”

“…Nudges for ESFC at the point of purchase can be categorized according to whether the nudge exerts an influence on consumers' cognition (i.e., consumer knowledge), affect (i.e., consumers' feelings) or behavior (i.e., motor responses) (Cadario and Chandon, 2019), as reviewed in Vandenbroele et al (2020b). Vandenbroele et al (2020b) discuss several future research areas that could be worthwhile investigating like the effect of interventions increasing the availability perceptions of environmentally sustainable food products. Increasing the perceived availability of eco-labeled products might not only trigger immediate choice but could also influence goal-pursuit, for instance by increasing public awareness of the environmental impact associated with food production or even increasing environmental values.…”

Nutritional Knowledge and Health Consciousness: Do They Affect Consumer Wine Choices? Evidence from a Survey in Italy

“…Moreover, the latter are shifting their wine drinking patterns from regular consumption to occasional consumption during weekends, preferring out-of-home contexts, outside meals, and high alcohol beverages [51,60,70,81,82]. Thus, new tools should be developed to provide information in this context [120,121].…”

Show Me More! The Influence of Visibility on Sustainable Food Choices

“…In this paper, the nudge we propose is a combination of display area size and quantity of displayed products. Combining these two nudges provides added value compared to using stand-alone nudges because characteristics of both a cognitive-oriented nudge as well as a behavioral-oriented nudge are at play [31,46]. The implementation of behavioral nudges in a nudging intervention is important because they have the strongest impact on consumer behavior [31].…”