Nudging with Care: Navigating the Ethical Landscape of Behavioral Techniques

The Management Lab

How can managers harness behavioral science to help their employees make better decisions? The principle of nudging says that, by tapping into innate psychological tendencies, we can design choice scenarios to increase the likelihood of individuals choosing well. In this episode we delve into the world of nudging techniques, examining how they can influence decision-making in various organizational scenarios, with a special focus on the ethical dimensions of the practice. Some of the topics we cover are: Does nudging actually work [spoiler: yes]? Can nudging be taken too far? If so, what are the limiting conditions for effective (and ethical) nudging? What is the difference between a “nudge” and a “boost”? Are data visualization and marketing just elaborate forms of nudging? What on earth are “choice architectures” and “libertarian paternalism” anyway? Research discussed in this episode include the following studies: Beshears, J., & Kosowsky, H. (2020). Nudging: Progress to date and future directions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 161, 3–19. Hertwig, R., & Grüne-Yanoff, T. (2017). Nudging and boosting: Steering or empowering good decisions. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(6), 973–986. Reeck, C., Posner, N. A., Mrkva, K., & Johnson, E. J. (2023). Nudging App Adoption: Choice Architecture Facilitates Consumer Uptake of Mobile Apps. Journal of Marketing, 1–18. Rozeboom, G. J. (2021). How to Evaluate Managerial Nudges. Journal of Business Ethics, 182, 1073–1086. Schmidt, A. T., & Engelen, B. (2020). The Ethics of Nudging: An Overview. Philosophy Compass, 15(4), e12658.