IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nas/journl/v121y2024pe2322549121.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spillover effects of reminder nudges in complex environments

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander K. Koch

    (a Department of Economics and Business Economics , Aarhus University , Aarhus 8210 , Denmark)

  • Dan Mønster

    (a Department of Economics and Business Economics , Aarhus University , Aarhus 8210 , Denmark)

  • Julia Nafziger

    (b Centre for Economic Policy Research (Organizational Economics) , London EC1V 0DX , United Kingdom)

Abstract

We present an experiment on the immediate and lasting effects of reminder nudges in a complex environment. In the study, 1,542 subjects face a setting where, within a brief time frame, they have to pay attention to and perform multiple actions in a computer game. The experiment investigates i) the effect of reminders on the reminded actions and their spillovers on nonreminded actions; ii) spillovers between multiple nudges when the number of reminded actions is increased; and iii) intertemporal spillovers from having been exposed to reminders on actions after reminders are withdrawn. Our findings reveal, first, that reminders have a positive effect on the overall number of actions performed. It results from the positive direct effect on the reminded actions dominating the negative spillovers on nonreminded actions. These negative effects are notable in our setting, where reminders could potentially have positive spillovers by freezing attention or by indirectly prompting actions similar to the reminded ones. Second, we observe that reminder nudges are scalable. Increasing the number of reminded actions leads subjects to take more actions overall, albeit with diminishing returns and more pronounced negative spillover effects. Third, after reminders are withdrawn, the positive effect on reminded actions diminishes, while negative spillovers on nonreminded actions persist, thus rendering reminders ineffective in increasing the overall number of actions performed.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander K. Koch & Dan Mønster & Julia Nafziger, 2024. "Spillover effects of reminder nudges in complex environments," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 121(17), pages 2322549121-, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:121:y:2024:p:e2322549121
    DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2322549121
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2322549121
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1073/pnas.2322549121?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:121:y:2024:p:e2322549121. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Eric Cain (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.pnas.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.