Selective Psychological Effects of Nudging, Gamification and Rational Information in Converting Commuters from Cars to Buses: A Controlled Field Experiment

While cities across the world invest in public transport solutions, car sales and congestion continue to rise. Converting commuters to new forms of transport is far from a trivial matter and rarely a question of infrastructure alone, so other more psychological approaches are clearly needed. Persuasive techniques like nudging, gamification and attempts at reframing the benefits of a target behavior are seen across numerous domains. But what are the relative effects of such strategies in terms of psychological influence and direct impact on travel behavior? People were given a month of free bus travel, and conversion attempted. A field experiment compared nudging, gamification and rational information. No persuasive strategy fared better than controls in terms of bus trips. Gamification proved significantly better getting participants to go online. Gamification proved significantly better at motivating intentions.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2018.02.016
• Record URL:
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1369847817304527
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13698478
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Lieberoth, Andreas
  • Jensen, Niels Holm
  • Bredahl, Thomas
• Publication Date: 2018-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Pagination: pp 246-261
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour
  • Volume: 55
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 1369-8478
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13698478

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Attitudes; Bus transit; Commuters; Game theory; Mode choice; Motivation; Psychological aspects; Travel behavior
• Candidate Terms: Gamification
• Subject Areas: Highways; Public Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01670015
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 22 2018 5:22PM