Goal and method
The goal of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of various nudges that are aimed at encouraging buying decisions for environmentally friendly products. The project will review the scientific basis for nudging approaches and then design a field experiment. The experiment will be carried out in Spring 2016 in selected branches of a major retailer in German-speaking Switzerland which is implementing various nudges. The project involves analysing sales figures and conducting interviews with customers. Factors conducive to potential interventions will be identified through quantitative interviews and further, in-depth qualitative interviews will reconstruct the process and implementation of individual purchasing decisions.
The project is part of the research project “Communication and behaviour in the environmental sector” of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). The project investigates how, among the population of Switzerland, environmentally relevant behavioural changes can be achieved through communicative measures.
Project duration: 2015-2016