The effects of pre-ordering and behavioral nudges on National School Lunch Program participants’ food item selection

Gabrielle F. Miller, Sonam Gupta, Jaclyn D. Kropp, Kelly A. Grogan and Anne Mathews

Journal of Economic Psychology, 2016, vol. 55, issue C, 4-16

Abstract: This paper examines the effects of pre-ordering and pre-ordering with behavioral nudges on the selection of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat milk by National School Lunch Program (NSLP) participants in a Florida school. After collecting two weeks of baseline data, students in grades four and five were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: the first treatment group pre-ordered their lunches online using a unique software program; the second treatment group received behavioral nudges based on United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) MyPlate recommendations while pre-ordering. Student in grades four and seven served as the control group and continued to obtain their lunches through the normal lunch line. Using difference-in-difference regression analysis, we find that students in the first treatment group selected significantly more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat milk during the pre-ordering intervention phase of the study relative to students in the control group, 27.7%, 15.8%, and 16.3%, respectively, while students in the second treatment group selected significantly more fruits (51.4%), vegetables (29.7%) and low-fat milk (37.3%) than students in the control group. In addition, we find the nudge had a statistically significant positive effect in addition to the effect of pre-ordering; students who received the MyPlate nudge while pre-ordering selected statistically significantly more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat milk than students who pre-ordered without nudging.

Keywords: Food selection; Nudging; Pre-commitment; Pre-ordering; School lunch (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 I12 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:55:y:2016:i:c:p:4-16

DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2016.02.010

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