Nudging for a Sustainable and Healthy Diet through Social Norm and Labelling. An Exposure of the Influence of Internal Factors on the Affectability of Nudges

Abstract

Humanity as a whole has never been as well of as it is today, nevertheless it faces a variety of different challenges. The thesis concentrates on the growing concerns regarding climate change and human health and their possible solution through changing human behaviour. This research analyses whether the adoption of a nudging approach, consisting of labels and social norms, could reduce meat consumption and lead towards a healthier and more sustainable choice. Thereby, a new conceptual model, based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, was developed in order to investigate the impact of internal factors on the effectiveness of nudges. More than 1.000 participants engaged in the online experiment, which was conducted through a survey. Not only were different nudges, but also different approaches within the nudge tested, covering the gap in the comparability of nudges from different studies in terms of their effectiveness. A traffic light label made either the healthiness or the environmental impact of the respected dishes salient. A dynamic and descriptive social norm represents the changing meat consumption behaviour of society.