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Testing the impact of overt and covert ordering interventions on sustainable consumption choices: a randomised controlled trial

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  • Zhuo, Shi
  • Ratajczak, Michael
  • Thornton, Katie
  • Jones, Phil
  • Jarchlo, Ayla Ibrahimi
  • Gold, Natalie

Abstract

Food products have significant impacts on the environment over their life cycle. We investigated whether displaying products in ascending order of carbon footprint in an online supermarket environment can shift consumer choices towards more sustainable options. We examined whether the effect of the ordering intervention differs when the ordering is overt (information about the ordering is explicit), compared to when it is covert (participants not told about the ordering). We conducted a three-arm parallel-group randomised trial using 1842 online participants from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Participants shopped for a meal, choosing one product from each of six product categories in a simulated online supermarket. Six products were listed vertically on each product-category page. Products were randomly ordered for the control arm but ordered by carbon footprint in the covert and overt ordering arms. In the overt ordering arm, a statement was displayed at the top of each product page about the ordering of products. The primary outcome was whether one of the three most sustainable products was chosen in each product category. There was no effect of the covert ordering on the probability of choosing more sustainable products compared with the control arm (OR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.88-1.07, p = 0.533). Furthermore, we did not find evidence that the effects of the covert ordering and overt ordering differed (p = 0.594). Within the control condition, products in different positions were chosen with similar frequencies, suggesting that product positioning does not have an impact on choices. This may explain why re-ordering products had no effect. In the overt condition, only 19.5% of people correctly answered that the products were ordered according to sustainability in a follow-up question, suggesting that they didn't notice the statement. Results suggest that choices for grocery products might be too ingrained to be changed by subtle rearrangements of choice architecture like the ordering interventions, and highlight the difficulty of conveying information effectively to consumers in the online grocery shopping environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhuo, Shi & Ratajczak, Michael & Thornton, Katie & Jones, Phil & Jarchlo, Ayla Ibrahimi & Gold, Natalie, 2023. "Testing the impact of overt and covert ordering interventions on sustainable consumption choices: a randomised controlled trial," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 117705, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:117705
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maya Bar-Hillel, 2015. "Position Effects in Choice from Simultaneous Displays: A Conundrum Solved," Discussion Paper Series dp678, The Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality, the Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
    2. Andrew Caplin & Mark Dean & Daniel Martin, 2011. "Search and Satisficing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(7), pages 2899-2922, December.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    disclosure; food choice; nudge; online supermarket; order effect; sustainable diet;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce

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