Predicting Consumer’s Nudge Approval for Three Menu Nudges to Guide Individuals Towards Vegetarian Dishes

Abstract

Most people eat meat when eating out-of-home. Previous studies showed that appealing dish descriptions, recommendations, and visual enhancements are effective in guiding people’s food choices and that restaurant owners are positive about using them. For nudges to be effective in real life, the approval regarding them is important as well. As earlier studies showed that nudge approval rates differ a lot, we looked at nudge approval and its predictors (i.e., actual effectiveness and perceived effectiveness) for the three menu nudges. Participants did a menu choice task and answered questions regarding nudge approval, intention to return, and perceived nudge effectiveness. We found a positive relation between the actual and perceived effectiveness of the nudges. Furthermore, the regression analysis showed that perceived effectiveness predicts higher nudge approval, while the actual effectiveness of the nudges did not predict higher or lower approval. Besides, higher age predicted slightly less nudge approval. Furthermore, individuals who studied at secondary vocational education approved less of the nudges than those who studied at university education. Lastly, we saw that appealing dish descriptions and chef’s recommendations, but not visual enhancements, resulted in significantly more vegetarian choices. Nudge approval and intention to return were high for all the nudges. So, individuals seem to accept nudges that are intended to influence their behaviour towards less meat consumption, which is among other things healthier and more sustainable.