The impact of a nudge intervention on healthy complementary food purchasing: An experiment from a Czech university canteen

Abstract

The study contributes evidence on the impact of nudges in steering healthy food choices in school canteen settings, especially in purchasing complementary food products on top of standard lunch meals. The study adopts an experimental research design, testing the effectiveness of prompt and placement nudges on purchasing complimentary food like fruit, salads, magnesium mineral water, and soups. The experiment took 33 days, equally divided into three periods: benchmark, prompt intervention, and placement intervention. Sales data were obtained from students (12,589) and employees (4,550). Logistic regression was employed in data analysis. Results reveal that both prompt and placement interventions significantly affect the sales of magnesium mineral water and salad, while the placement intervention significantly affects the sales of fruits. The experimental results analysis found that nudges’ effectiveness in selling lunch complements may vary by product type and between students and employees. Practical implications are proposed for nudge interventions to promote healthy consumption in public university canteen settings.