Future of Work Decision-Making & Analytics
BEHAVIOURAL SCIENCE MEAT ME HALFWAY G
important issue for the industry. My research explored the idea of using social norm nudges to help boost sales. I looked at three different types of social norm nudges – descriptive, injunctive and dynamic. Descriptive norms focus on telling customers about people’s actual behaviours – for example, “a lot of customers are buying plant- based meat”. Injunctive norms address the unwritten rules of how to behave – what society approves and disapproves of, such as keeping quiet in a library. Or, in this context: “our customers would advise you to give plant-based products a try”. The use of dynamic norms focuses on how consumers’ behaviour is changing – ie “more and more people are buying plant-based products”. I created two experiments, one online and the other in a real fast- food restaurant chain. The online experiment involved almost 900 people from eight different countries who were randomly allocated either to one of the norm messages or a control group and asked what they would buy. I was interested in whether the impact of the messaging would differ in markets that were more individualistic – like the US, Australia and the UK – compared to those with a more ‘collectivist’ structure, such as China and Taiwan. The study found that dynamic norms worked best, increasing the chances of customers choosing plant-based items by almost a fifth, with injunctive messages being the second-most effective. This was the case regardless of the market involved, with the messaging working both in the more collectivist cultures in
rowing up as the son of restaurant owners close to Mannheim in the Rhine region of Germany fostered an interest in food
that has informed my whole career. Today, I am Managing Director of Revenue Management Solutions, a consulting firm that delivers consumer insights and behaviour analysis to restaurant chains. So, when it came to choosing a subject for my Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) thesis, it was inevitable that I would look at a challenge that the restaurant sector is facing. A few years ago, fast-food restaurants introduced plant-based foods on their menus in response to growing interest in alternatives to meat among consumers. “However, the environmental concerns about meat This interest came about because of increased concerns in society about the environmental impacts of meat, including greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and water use. However, these concerns were not translating into sales of these new offerings, so the question of how to boost take-up of plant-based foods was an consumption are not going away”
Can fast-food customers be nudged towards plant-based products?
Asia and in Western countries that are more individualistic. I also carried out a real-world field study with a German fast-food chain that involved more than 100,000 buying decisions. This confirmed the results of the online experiment, with the use of dynamic social norms messaging being the most effective in lifting sales of plant- based products. The reason for this could be that this type of messaging is more reflective of real life. The field study also revealed that it is difficult to back up injunctive statements, such as the message that was used in the online study – that “customers who tasted our plant-based products would advise you to give them a try!” – with reliable evidence. This makes them difficult to defend legally and reduces the applicability of this type of statement in the real world. My thesis suggests, that if restaurants want their customers to adopt any other type of more sustainable behaviour, using dynamic norms messaging is the most effective method. There is a certain irony in that, since I started my research, before COVID-19, the world has moved on and plant-based foods have fallen down the agenda of restaurant chains. This is in large
part because of the pandemic, which transformed the sector at a speed never seen before and has left it focused on a fight for survival. Add in concerns about ultra-processed foods, the rise of weight-loss drugs such as Mounjaro and the uncertain impacts of climate change on the price and availability of both meat and plant-based crops, and the future for the plant-based sector is highly uncertain. However, the environmental concerns about meat consumption are not going away, and there are already success stories – plant-based milks are thoroughly mainstream. I was lucky enough to win an award for the best DBA thesis for this research, a testament that all the effort was complete and recognised. When the tide turns, and interest in plant-based options returns, this research will help to inform how the fast-food sector can encourage customers to choose plant-based options.
by Philipp Laqué
Harness behavioural insights with the Behavioural Science in Practice executive programme.
Sustainable Development Goals
Warwick Business School | wbs.ac.uk
wbs.ac.uk | Warwick Business School
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