Examining Choice Satisfaction as a Function of Nudge Transparency

Pages: 542-546
Umesh L. Bharte and Harshal Gedam (Department of Applied Psychology, University of Mumbai, Maharashtra)

Nudging people and helping them to make better choices has been one of the noteworthy features of behavioural economics in recent years. Further, using nudges with or without the knowledge of being nudged presents related promising line of enquiry having noticeable policy implications. Building on the previous body of research, the present study aims at examining the effectiveness of transparent nudging. In particular, we hypothesise that nudging transparency would have significant effect on the level of satisfaction experienced with the choice made. An (online) experimental study with random groups design on the participants (N = 70) living in Mumbai and sub-urban region is conducted to test that prediction. Contrary to our expectation, the results show that there is no significant difference between the means of the two groups (transparent nudging and non-transparent nudging conditions). Discussion of such a contradictory finding is provided along with future lines of enquiry.