Nudging or Nagging: The Perils of Persuasion

45 Pages Posted: 5 May 2023 Last revised: 22 Jun 2023

See all articles by Andrea Guido

Andrea Guido

PSB Paris School of Business

Denis Tverskoi

DySoC/NIMBioS

Sergey Gavrilets

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Anxo Sánchez

Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III, Leganés (Madrid)

Giulia Andrighetto

Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies; Linkoping University - Institute for Analytical Sociology (IAS); The Institute for Future Studies

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 14, 2023

Abstract

Over the past few years, organizations and policy-makers have enthusiastically resorted to persuasion appeals to align individuals' behavior with their objectives. Despite the widespread use of appeals and persuasion techniques in various fields, their effectiveness has often been inconsistent and subject to debate. A central unanswered question is whether the effect of appeals depends on individuals' predisposition to follow externally-imposed rules. In this paper, we provide experimental evidence on the heterogeneous effect of appeals from a long-term (35 days) online Common Pool Resource game. We find that rule followers comply more with the content of the appeal, while rule breakers react against it. Reactance to appeals among rule breakers emerge after some time and is robust even after controlling for social preferences, personal and social norms. Our findings have important implications for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers seeking to promote behavior change and achieve social outcomes. By leveraging insights from behavioral science and experimental research, we can design more effective interventions that account for individual variation and maximize their impact.

Keywords: persuasion, nudges, backfiring, rule following

JEL Classification: D7, D9

Suggested Citation

Guido, Andrea and Tverskoi, Denis and Gavrilets, Sergey and Sánchez, Angel and Andrighetto, Giulia, Nudging or Nagging: The Perils of Persuasion (April 14, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4404960 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4404960

Andrea Guido (Contact Author)

PSB Paris School of Business

59 rue Nationale
NA
Paris, Paris 75013
France

Denis Tverskoi

DySoC/NIMBioS ( email )

Knoxville, TN 37996
United States

Sergey Gavrilets

University of Tennessee, Knoxville ( email )

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Knoxville, TN 37996
United States

HOME PAGE: http://volweb2.utk.edu/~gavrila/

Angel Sánchez

Departamento de Matemáticas, Universidad Carlos III, Leganés (Madrid) ( email )

Grupo Interdisciplinar de Sistemas Complejos
Departamento de Matemáticas,Universidad Carlos III
Madrid, Madrid 28933
Spain

Giulia Andrighetto

Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies ( email )

IASI BioMatLab
Institute of Systems Analysis and Computer Science
Rome
Italy

Linkoping University - Institute for Analytical Sociology (IAS) ( email )

Norrköping, 601 74
Sweden

The Institute for Future Studies ( email )

Holländargatan 13
Stockholm, 11136
Sweden

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