Cafeteria Online: Nudges for Healthier Food Choices in a University Cafeteria—A Randomized Online Experiment

Christine Kawa, Patrizia M. Ianiro-Dahm, Jan F. H. Nijhuis and Wim H. Gijselaers
Additional contact information
Christine Kawa: Department of Management Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, 53359 Rheinbach, Germany
Patrizia M. Ianiro-Dahm: Department of Management Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, 53359 Rheinbach, Germany
Jan F. H. Nijhuis: Department of Educational Research and Development, School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, 6211 LM Maastricht, The Netherlands
Wim H. Gijselaers: Department of Educational Research and Development, School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, 6211 LM Maastricht, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-13

Abstract: Many people do not consume as much healthy food as recommended. Nudging has been identified as a promising intervention strategy to increase the consumption of healthy food. The present study analyzed the effects of three body shape nudges (thin, thick, or Giacometti artwork) on food ordering and assessed the mediating role of being aware of the nudge. Students (686) and employees (218) of a German university participated in an online experimental study. After randomization, participants visited a realistic online cafeteria and composed a meal for themselves. Under experimental conditions, participants were exposed to one out of three nudges while choosing dishes: (1) thin body shape, (2) thick body shape, and (3) the Giacometti artwork nudge. The Giacometti nudge resulted in more orders for salad among employees. The thin and thick body shape nudges did not change dish orders. Awareness of the nudge mediated the numbers of calories ordered when using the Giacometti or thin body shape nudges. These findings provide useful insights for health interventions in occupational and public health sectors using nudges. Our study contributes to the research on the Giacometti nudge by showing its effectiveness when participants are aware (it is effective under conditions where it is consciously perceived).

Keywords: food choice; body shape nudge; cafeteria; health intervention; nudge awareness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/12924/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/24/12924/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:24:p:12924-:d:697384

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().