Are we in control of our own decisions?
THE role of human psychology has taken on added significance in helping fuel public policies. This is a sentiment echoed by Assoc Prof Grace Hooi Yean Lee, head of the Economics Department at Monash University Malaysia, who says: “In a lot of public policies, you can have the best policies in place, but the behaviour of people can be very unpredictable.”
The nudge theory is a concept in behavioural economics popularised by the economist Richard Thaler. Nudging is predicated on studies which shows that people can be influenced, or “nudged”, into making decisions for the betterment of themselves and society.
Assoc Prof Hooi and her co-researchers at Monash University, Shin Ee Teo and Erte Xiao, embarked on an experiment to see the efficacy of nudging, and note when its effects start to wear off. They organised the 10,000 steps challenge, where a series of surveys were conducted to identify inactive students for participation in the experiment.
This first step of getting students to participate involved the goal-setting theory. The American psychologist and pioneer of goal-setting theory, Edwin Locke observed that having clearly defined goals results in better performance at work. Students were told to choose from a list that consisted of health, weight loss, peer, fun, and challenge, among others, as motivating factors for their participation.
Participants were given the Miband 2, a pedometer to measure the distance they walked each day. They were then asked to share the daily steps they achieved based on data from the pedometer. The brochure for participation included information on the benefits of walking for health, and how better health translates to better learning and better grades in university. Out of the participants, 85% of students were identified as inactive.
The students were divided into control and treatment groups. Control groups involved the participation of students without any form of nudging, with no punishment or rewards for failure or success in walking 10,000 steps daily. The treatment group, on the other hand, was divided into two groups, the similar peer group and the superior peer group.
Students in similar and superior peer groups were nudged into participating with accompanying information that 80% of their peers with similar step counts as theirs had participated in the challenge. The difference was that the average step count of participants in the similar peer group ranged between 4,000 and 7,500 steps, while the superior peer group had a step count of 7,500 and above.
“This was to see if, with peer information, students can be nudged towards behavioural change through goal settings. Do they internalise the value of the goal or do they simply conform? If they internalise the value of the goal, it will lead to improved performances. If they simply conform and just sign up, they don’t walk or exercise more,” explains Assoc Prof Hooi.
The effectiveness of goal-setting was underlined by the result that showed an average increase of 485 steps among those who set goals, as opposed to the average decline of 260 steps among those who did not set any goals.
Sign up rates among the similar peer group was the highest at 76%, compared to the superior peer group (67%) and control group (65%). However, the similar peer group also recorded the smallest amount of improvement in step count after participating in the experiment, registering a 384-step (6.9%) increase in average, compared to the superior peer group, which registered a 498-step (9%) improvement and the control group, which registered a 583-step (11%) improvement.
“We find evidence that although nudging leads to a higher sign-up rate for goal-setting, the intervention is ineffective when there is a lack of health-related motivation. People simply conform to goal-setting without internalising the values of the walking challenge.”
The nudge theory is a concept in behavioural economics popularised by the economist Richard Thaler. Nudging is predicated on studies which shows that people can be influenced, or “nudged”, into making decisions for the betterment of themselves and society.
The question, “How much do you want it?”, is part of motivational parlance. There are a multitude of factors involved in ensuring success in the field of performance management. However, only motivation driven by internal values can ensure success.
As Assoc Prof Hooi concludes: “Peer conformity without internalising the value implies that it is ineffective in nudging people even if people engage in the activity. In the recruitment advertisements, we encourage students to participate in the walking study by citing the health benefits of walking.
“Therefore, we classify the motivation into ‘health-related motivation’ and ‘non-healthrelated motivation’. Our results show that nudging can be an effective tool in helping people internalise the value of the target activity. If nudging is not done right, it may even backfire. If there is no right type of motivation, then there will not be any proper result.”