Nudging towards sustainable dining: Exploring menu nudges to promote vegetarian meal choices in restaurants.

Autor: Weijers RJ; Department of Social, Health, and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands. Electronic address: r.j.weijers@uu.nl., Claessens IWH; Department of Social, Health, and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands., Gillebaart M; Department of Social, Health, and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands., de Ridder DTD; Department of Social, Health, and Organizational Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Appetite [Appetite] 2024 Jul 01; Vol. 198, pp. 107376. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Apr 25.
DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107376
Abstrakt: Food choice behavior plays a large role in achieving sustainability goals. Meat in particular has a negative environmental impact as compared with plant-based food - and is more frequently chosen in restaurant contexts. To increase plant-based meal choices in restaurants, we tested three nudges for menus that are likely to be implemented by restaurant owners: a hedonic label (e.g., artisanal vegetable burger), a chef's recommendation (specifying the vegetarian option as the chef's favorite), and a salience nudge (a box around the vegetarian option). In an online experiment, we showed participants (n = 513) in four conditions (no nudge, hedonic label, chef's recommendation, and salience nudge) five menus with four meal options each, one of which was vegetarian. We asked participants to choose a meal and subsequently to rate these meals on how tasty and indulgent they were (taste and indulgence attributions). We then revealed which nudge was used to the participants and asked how participants received it. Results show that the hedonic label and chef's recommendation nudge (but not the salience nudge) both increase vegetarian meal choices. The hedonic label increased participants' attributions of indulgence of the meal, but not of tastiness. This finding fits with restaurants' gastronomic, pleasure-seeking context and shapes future directions of labeling interventions, namely that indulgence attributions can be increased in vegetarian foods. Furthermore, the nudges were generally well accepted and participants' intention to return to the (virtual) restaurant was high. Finally, customers expected the hedonic label nudge to be more effective in promoting vegetarian food choices than the other two nudges, partially corresponding with our findings of actual effectiveness.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have no competing interest to declare.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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