[Paper Review] Conscious Commerce -- Digital Nudging and Sustainable E-commerce Purchase Decisions

Milad Mirbabaie, Julian Marx+1 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Feb 17, 2022

Environmental Sustainability in Business4 citations

TL;DR

This study investigates digital nudging—specifically default and social norm nudges—in promoting sustainable e-commerce purchases within green fashion. Despite no statistically significant main effects, the experiment reveals a backfiring effect when nudges are combined, highlighting the critical role of user identification in nudging effectiveness, thus advancing choice architecture design for sustainable e-commerce platforms.

ABSTRACT

So-called 'fast fashion' consumption, amplified through cost-effective e-commerce, constitutes a major factor negatively impacting climate change. A recently noted strategy to motivate consumers to more sustainable decisions is digital nudging. This paper explores the capability of digital nudging in the context of green fashion e-commerce. To do so, digital default and social norm nudges are tested in an experimental setting of green fashion purchases. An online experiment (n=320) was conducted, simulating an online retail scenario. Results failed to show statistically significant relationships between nudging strategies and purchase decisions. However, explorative analyses show a backfiring effect for the combination of nudges and thus, reveal a hitherto neglected impact of participants' identification on the effectiveness of the digital nudging strategies. Consequently, this study contributes to digital nudging literature and informs practice with new insights on effective choice architectures in e-commerce.

Motivation & Objective

• To examine the impact of digital nudging on sustainable e-commerce purchase decisions in the context of green fashion.
• To assess whether default and social norm nudges influence consumer behavior in simulated online shopping environments.
• To investigate how individual differences, particularly identification with sustainability, moderate nudging effectiveness.
• To contribute empirical insights into effective choice architecture for promoting environmentally responsible consumption in digital marketplaces.

Proposed method

• An online experimental study was conducted with 320 participants in a simulated green fashion e-commerce environment.
• Participants were exposed to two types of digital nudges: a default nudge (pre-selected sustainable option) and a social norm nudge (information about others' sustainable choices).
• The study employed a between-subjects design to test individual and combined effects of the nudges on purchase decisions.
• Data were collected on purchase behavior, with exploratory analyses focusing on interaction effects and the moderating role of participants' identification with sustainability.
• Statistical analysis tested for significant relationships between nudging conditions and purchase outcomes.
• Exploratory analyses examined the combined effect of nudges and the influence of self-identification on nudging effectiveness.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Does the use of a default nudge significantly increase the likelihood of sustainable fashion purchases in an e-commerce setting?
• RQ2 Does the use of a social norm nudge significantly increase the likelihood of sustainable fashion purchases in an e-commerce setting?
• RQ3 What is the combined effect of applying both default and social norm nudges on sustainable purchase decisions?
• RQ4 How does participants' identification with sustainable values moderate the effectiveness of digital nudging strategies?

Key findings

• No statistically significant main effects were found for either the default nudge or the social norm nudge on sustainable purchase decisions.
• A backfiring effect was observed when both nudges were applied together, indicating a counterproductive outcome in the combined condition.
• Exploratory analyses revealed that participants' identification with sustainability significantly moderated the effectiveness of digital nudges.
• The combination of nudges led to reduced purchase intentions among individuals with lower identification, suggesting potential unintended consequences of multi-nudge interventions.
• The findings suggest that user-level factors such as personal identification are critical in shaping nudging outcomes.
• The study contributes new insights into the design of choice architectures by highlighting the risks of one-size-fits-all nudging in sustainable e-commerce.