Why a nudge is not enough: A social identity critique of governance by stealth. Mols, F., Haslam, S. A., Jetten, J., & Steffens, N. K. European Journal of Political Research, 54(1):81--98, 2015.
Why a nudge is not enough: A social identity critique of governance by stealth [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
Policy makers can use four different modes of governance: ‘hierarchy’, ‘markets’, ‘networks’ and ‘persuasion’. In this article, it is argued that ‘nudging’ represents a distinct (fifth) mode of governance. The effectiveness of nudging as a means of bringing about lasting behaviour change is questioned and it is argued that evidence for its success ignores the facts that many successful nudges are not in fact nudges; that there are instances when nudges backfire; and that there may be ethical concerns associated with nudges. Instead, and in contrast to nudging, behaviour change is more likely to be enduring where it involves social identity change and norm internalisation. The article concludes by urging public policy scholars to engage with the social identity literature on ‘social influence’, and the idea that those promoting lasting behaviour change need to engage with people not as individual cognitive misers, but as members of groups whose norms they internalise and enact.
@article{mols_why_2015,
	title = {Why a nudge is not enough: {A} social identity critique of governance by stealth},
	volume = {54},
	copyright = {© 2014 European Consortium for Political Research},
	issn = {1475-6765},
	shorttitle = {Why a nudge is not enough},
	url = {http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-6765.12073/abstract},
	doi = {10.1111/1475-6765.12073},
	abstract = {Policy makers can use four different modes of governance: ‘hierarchy’, ‘markets’, ‘networks’ and ‘persuasion’. In this article, it is argued that ‘nudging’ represents a distinct (fifth) mode of governance. The effectiveness of nudging as a means of bringing about lasting behaviour change is questioned and it is argued that evidence for its success ignores the facts that many successful nudges are not in fact nudges; that there are instances when nudges backfire; and that there may be ethical concerns associated with nudges. Instead, and in contrast to nudging, behaviour change is more likely to be enduring where it involves social identity change and norm internalisation. The article concludes by urging public policy scholars to engage with the social identity literature on ‘social influence’, and the idea that those promoting lasting behaviour change need to engage with people not as individual cognitive misers, but as members of groups whose norms they internalise and enact.},
	language = {en},
	number = {1},
	urldate = {2015-01-07},
	journal = {European Journal of Political Research},
	author = {Mols, Frank and Haslam, S. Alexander and Jetten, Jolanda and Steffens, Niklas K.},
	year = {2015},
	keywords = {modes of governance, Norms, nudging, persuasion, social identity theory},
	pages = {81--98},
	file = {Snapshot:files/50523/abstract.html:text/html}
}

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