Using explainable food swaps to nudge users towards more sustainable products in grocery websites
Master thesis

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Date
2023-06-02Metadata
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- Master theses [253]
Abstract
The growing concern for climate issues has prompted both consumers and the grocery retail industry to prioritize environmental sustainability. This thesis aims to examine the effectiveness of nudging users towards more sustainable food options in an online grocery store using food swaps. Further, the study utilizes different motivational explanations accompanying the swaps to investigate their impact on swap acceptance and perceived understand- ing. A mockup supermarket interface was created, and screenshots were uploaded to an online survey tool, where participants (N=202) were assigned to one of four conditions (baseline, health, sustainability, or money). Results indicate that motivational framing did not significantly influence swap acceptance. However, perceived understandability was significant in affecting swap acceptance, with the sustainability framing being better understood. Participants were more likely to swap when the cost of the alternative product increased, suggesting other factors influenced consumer behavior. Finally, perceived similarity between the original and alternative product significantly affected the swap acceptance and perceived similarity, where meat swaps showed a strong positive, statistical significance. This thesis provided novel work within the field of encouraging more sustainable products in online grocery shopping services, which can further be expanded by implementing sustainable food swaps in a recommender system.