Abstract
Food environments have a major influence on consumers’ food choices. The increasing abilities and accessibility of technology have caused food choices to be made in digital environments. Contemporary consumers increasingly select and purchase foods via web-based and mobile applications, where their perceptions and food choices are mediated entirely through user-interface (UI) designs. Therefore, online services offer a great opportunity for choice architects to develop new digital nudging strategies that could promote healthier food choices. At the conference, we present the results of two recently conducted studies to test two digital nudging strategies: the first was conducted within an experimental online grocery store and the second was conducted using a mobile application for food (specifically snacks) tracking. A review of existing digital nudging strategies used on online grocery stores was provided to demonstrate why research on the potential impacts of digital environments on food choices is needed. In addition, two different digital nudging strategies were presented, providing details about the applied human–computer interaction principles. The first nudging strategy, implemented within an experimental online grocery store, is based on the re-positioning of product categories and of food products within those categories based on the content of a specific nutrient (specifically dietary fibre). The second strategy, implemented within a mobile application, exploits the influence of UI, implemented as background images of either healthy or unhealthy snacks, on snack choices. In addition, the mobile app was published as an open-access app; thus, further studies investigating the impact of UI can be conducted and the easy collection of data is facilitated. The results of both studies, performed in different digital settings and in two countries (Slovenia and Australia), were presented. The main findings suggest that further investigation of this research field is warranted, and that strategically implementing digital nudging strategies in online environments may promote healthier food choices. Lastly, this research provides insights (i) for consumers on how UIs can affect food choice decisions, (ii) for choice architects in the health-promotion research area, as it may inform the development of interventions to promote healthy food choices, and (iii) for policy makers regarding whether regulations are needed to protect consumers in online food choice settings.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, E.V., B.K.S., T.B., C.E.C. and E.B.; methodology, E.V., B.K.S., T.B., C.E.C. and E.B.; writing—original draft preparation, E.V.; writing—review and editing, B.K.S., T.B., C.E.C. and E.B.; supervision, B.K.S., T.B., C.E.C. and E.B.; funding acquisition, B.K.S., T.B. and C.E.C., All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC DP210100285) and the Hunter Medical Research Institute, Food and Nutrition Group. In addition, this work was supported by the OPKP (‘Upgrade of the Open platform for clinical nutrition with a mobile app’) project, which has received funding from the Ministry of Health of Slovenia under Grant Agreement No. C2711-19-185021, by the COMFOCUS project, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No. 101005259, and by the Slovenian Research Agency (research core grant number P2-0098: Computer Structures and Systems). C.E.C. is supported by an NHMRC Leadership Research Fellowship (L3, APP2009340).
Institutional Review Board Statement
The studies were approved by the University of Newcastle Human Research Ethics Committee (approval numbers H-2022-0240 and H-2020-0267).
Informed Consent Statement
Informed consents were obtained from all subjects involved in the studies.
Data Availability Statement
Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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