Nudging As a Public Policy Tool: Exploring the Relationship Between Nudge and the Ability of Citizens for Rational Thought and Choice

PDF (English)
Опубликован: Jun 29, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/hapscpbs.30982
Panayiota Georgiou
Cardiff University
Аннотация

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the use of nudge as a tool of governments in influencing people’s behaviour. It captures the emergence of nudge as a policy making tool and its meaning within the context of policy interventions. Then, the different conditions under which nudge effectively leads to citizens’ loss of their ability for choice and thought are examined, which are (i) referring to the choice of architects promoting their own interests, (ii) unconscious nudging, (iii) overuse of nudging and (iv) the issue of who gets nudged and its associated implications. To conclude, the summative assessment of nudge’s role in negatively influencing citizens’ ability for choice and rational thought while also providing comments for future analysis is also discussed. Overall, this paper critically examines the use of nudge as a policy tool for governments, adding to the existing public management and policy literature.

Article Details
  • Раздел
  • Articles
Лицензия Creative Commons

Это произведение доступно по лицензии Creative Commons «Attribution» («Атрибуция») 4.0 Всемирная.

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Скачивания
Данные скачивания пока недоступны.
Биография автора
Panayiota Georgiou, Cardiff University

PhD researcher in Business Studies within the Management, Employment and Organisation section at Cardiff Business School; Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (AFHEA).

Библиографические ссылки
Bovens, L. (2009). The ethics of Nudge. In: Grune-Yanoff, T. and Hansson, S. (eds). Preference Change: Approaches from Philosophy, Economics and Psychology. Dordrecht: Springer.
Ewert, B. (2018). From Entitled Citizens to Nudged Consumers? Re-examining the Hallmarks of Health Citizenship in the Light of the Behavioural Turn. Public Policy and Administration, 0(0):1-21.
Feitsma, J. (2019). Brokering Behaviour Change: the Work of Behavioural Insights Experts in Government. Policy and Politics, 47(1): 37-56.
Furedi, F. (2011). On Tolerance: A Defence of Moral Independence. Bloomsbury Continuum.
Goodwin, T. (2012). Why We Should Reject ‘Nudge’. Politics, 32(2): 85-92.
Hansen, P. (2016). The Definition of Nudge and Libertarian Paternalism: Does the Hand Fit the Glove? The European Journal of Risk Regulation, 7(1): 155-174.
Hansen, P. and Jespersen, A. (2013). Nudge and the Manipulation of Choice: A Framework for the Responsible Use of the Nudge Approach to Behaviour Change in Public Policy. The European Journal of Risk Regulation, 4(1): 3-28.
Hausman, D. and Welch, B. (2010). Debate: To Nudge or Not to Nudge. The Journal of Political Philosophy, 18(1): 123-136.
Horton, T. (2009). The Darker Side of Nudging. The Political Quarterly, 80(2): 295-298.
John, P., Smith, G. and Stoker, G. (2009). Nudge Nudge, Think Think: Two Strategies for Changing Civic Behaviour. The Political Quarterly, 80(3): 361-370.
Kosters, M. and Van der Heijden, J. (2015). From Mechanism to Virtue: Evaluating Nudge Theory. Evaluation, 21(3): 276-291.
Leggett, W. (2014). The Politics of Behaviour Change: Nudge, Neoliberalism and the State. Policy and Politics, 42(1): 3-19.
Oliver, A. (2013). From Nudging to Budging: Using Behavioural Economics to Inform Public Sector Policy. Journal of Social Policy, 42(4): 685-700.
Quigley, M. (2013). Nudging for Health: on Public Policy and Designing Choice Architecture. Medical Law Review, 21(4): 588-621.
Schubert, C. (2015). On the Ethics of Public Nudging: Autonomy and Agency. MAGKS Papers on Economics 201533, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics.
Schubert, C. (2017). Green nudges: Do they work? Are they ethical? Ecological Economics, 132: 329-342.
Snyder, L., Hamilton, M., Mitchell E. & Kiwanuka, J. (2004). A Meta-analysis of the Effect of Mediated Health Communication Campaigns on Behaviour Change in the United States. Journal of Heath Communication, 9(1): 71-96.
Sunstein, C. (2014). Why nudge?: the Politics of Libertarian Paternalism. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Sunstein, C. (2015). Nudges, Agency, and Abstraction: A Reply to Critics. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 6(3): 511-529.
Thaler, R. & Sunstein, C. (2009). Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness (2nd Ed.). London: Penguin Books.
Vlaev, I., King, D., Dolan, P. & Darzi, A. (2016). The Theory and Practice of “Nudging”: Changing Health Behaviors. Public Administration Review, 76(4): 550-561.
Whitehead, M., Jones, R. & Pykett, J. (2011). Governing Irrationality, or a more than Rational Government? Reflections on the Rescientisation of Decision Making in British Public Policy. Environment and Planning, 43(12): 2819-2837.