Title: Which nudges get support? - A quantitative analysis of the dimensions transparency and dual process theory

Authors: Hannes Wissmann; Augustin Suessmair

Addresses: School of Business and Economics, Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany ' Institute of Experimental Business Psychology, Leuphana University of Lueneburg, Lüneburg, Germany

Abstract: Policymakers have been increasingly interested in so-called 'nudges' which are behaviourally informed policy measures. The legitimacy and acceptability of nudging is controversially debated. In this paper, the acceptability of nudges was examined by the framework of Hansen and Jespersen (2013), which classifies nudges into four types by distinguishing on a dual process theory dimension and on an epistemic transparency dimension. An online questionnaire was developed in which 135 participants stated their support for the different types of nudges applied in the areas of health and sustainability. It was hypothesised that for both and across areas, the support would decrease in the following order: transparent system 2, transparent system 1, non-transparent system 1, and non-transparent system 2 nudges. The hypotheses could be confirmed for sustainability nudges and across application areas. Further analysis indicated that lower education, higher income, and higher environmental awareness are positively correlated with acceptance of sustainability nudges.

Keywords: nudging; public policy; behaviour change; sustainability; health; behavioural experiment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2025.148941

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2025 Vol.29 No.6, pp.415 - 440

Received: 04 May 2022
Accepted: 19 Oct 2022
Published online: 06 Oct 2025 *

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