Nudging for Lockdown: Behavioural Insights from An Online Experiment

34 Pages Posted: 18 Apr 2022

See all articles by Thierry Blayac

Thierry Blayac

Université Montpellier

Dimitri Dubois

Université Montpellier I

Sébastien Duchêne

Université Montpellier I

Phu Nguyen Van

University of Cergy-Pontoise - THEMA

Ismaël Rafaï

Aix-Marseille University - Aix-Marseille School of Economics

Bruno Ventelou

Aix-Marseille University

Marc Willinger

University of Montpellier

Date Written: March 15, 2022

Abstract

We test the effectiveness of a social comparison nudge to enhance lockdown compliance during the Covid-19 pandemic, using a representative sample of the metropolitan French adult population (N=1154). Respondents were randomly assigned to a favourable/unfavourable informational feedback (daily road traffic mobility patterns) on peers’ lockdown compliance. Our dependent variable was the intention to comply with a possible future lockdown. We controlled for risk, time, and social preferences and tested the effectiveness of the nudge. We unexpectedly found that the social comparison nudge was not effective among the whole population, but was effective only when the nudge’s recipient and the reference population shared the same geographical location. Exploratory results on this subsample (N=52) suggest that this effectiveness could be driven by non-cooperative individuals.

Keywords: COVID-19; Lockdown compliance; Social Comparison Nudge; Risk preferences; Time preferences; Social preferences

Suggested Citation

Blayac, Thierry and Dubois, Dimitri and Duchêne, Sébastien and Nguyen Van, Phu and Rafaï, Ismaël and Ventelou, Bruno and Willinger, Marc, Nudging for Lockdown: Behavioural Insights from An Online Experiment (March 15, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4031910 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4031910

Thierry Blayac

Université Montpellier ( email )

Montpellier, 34099
France

Dimitri Dubois

Université Montpellier I ( email )

Avenue de la Mer Site Richter
163 Rue Auguste Broussonnet
Montpellier, Cedex 2 34090
France

Sébastien Duchêne

Université Montpellier I ( email )

Avenue de la Mer Site Richter
163 Rue Auguste Broussonnet
Montpellier, Cedex 2 34090
France

Phu Nguyen Van

University of Cergy-Pontoise - THEMA

33 boulevard du port
F-95011 Cergy-Pontoise Cedex, 95011
France

Ismaël Rafaï (Contact Author)

Aix-Marseille University - Aix-Marseille School of Economics ( email )

2 rue de la Charité
Marseille, 13236
France

Bruno Ventelou

Aix-Marseille University

3 Avenue Robert Schuman
3 Avenue Robert Schuman,
Aix-en-Provence, 13628
France

Marc Willinger

University of Montpellier ( email )

163 rue Auguste Broussonnet
France

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
142
Abstract Views
687
Rank
337,162
PlumX Metrics