Ethical Guidelines for the Construction of Digital Nudges

Under certain circumstances, humans tend to behave in irrational ways, leading to situations in which they make undesirable choices. The concept of digital nudging addresses these limitations of bounded rationality by establishing a libertarian paternalist alternative to nudge users in virtual environments towards their own preferential choices. Thereby, choice architectures are designed to address biases and heuristics involved in cognitive thinking. As research on digital nudging has become increasingly popular in the Information Systems community, an increasing necessity for ethical guidelines has emerged around this concept to safeguard its legitimization in distinction to e.g. persuasion or manipulation. However, reflecting on ethical debates regarding digital nudging in academia, we find that current conceptualizations are scare. This is where on the basis of existing literature, we provide a conceptualization of ethical guidelines for the design of digital nudges, and thereby aim to ensure the applicability of nudging mechanisms in virtual environments

Status Quo, Critical Reflection, and the Road Ahead of Digital Nudging in Information Systems Research: A Discussion with Markus Weinmann and Alexey Voinov

Research on digital nudging has become increasingly popular in the information systems (IS) community. In this paper, we overview the current progress of, critically reflect on, and discuss further research on digital nudging in IS. To do so, we reviewed the literature and interviewed Markus Weinmann from Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University, one of the first scholars who introduced digital nudging to the IS community, and Alexey Voinov, Director of the Centre on Persuasive Systems for Wise Adaptive Living at University of Technology Sydney. We uncovered a gap between what we know about what constitutes digital nudging and how we can actually put consequent requirements into practice. In this context, the original nudging concept bears inherent challenges about, for example, the focus on individuals’ welfare, which, thus, also apply to digital nudging. Moreover, we need to better understand how nudging in digital choice environments differs from that in the offline world. To further distinguish itself from other fields that already tested various nudges in many different domains, digital nudging research in IS may benefit from a design science perspective in order to go beyond testing effectiveness and provide specific design principles for the different types of digital nudges

The Impossible, the Unlikely, and the Probable Nudges: A Classification for the Design of Your Next Nudge

Nudging provides a way to gently influence people to change behavior towards a desired goal, e.g., by moving towards a healthier or more environmentally friendly lifestyle. Personalized and context-aware digital nudging (named smart nudging) can be a powerful tool for efficient nudging by tailoring nudges to the current situation of each individual user. However, designing smart nudges is challenging, as different users may need different supports to improve their behavior. Determining the next nudge for a specific user must be done based on the user’s current situation, abilities, and potential for improvement. In this paper, we focus on the challenge of designing the next nudge by presenting a novel classification of nudges that distinguishes between (i) nudges that are impossible for the user to follow, (ii) nudges that are unlikely to be followed, and (iii) probable nudges that the user can follow. The classification is tailored to individual users based on user profiles, current situations, and knowledge of previous behaviors. This paper describes steps in the nudge design process and a novel set of principles for designing smart nudges

From Dark Patterns to Digital Sludging – Mapping the Ethical Debate on Controversial Persuasive System Design

Guiding individual decision-making in digital environments through persuasive system design (PSD) is a powerful tool. While some forms of PSD such as digital nudging are based on libertarian paternalism and mostly considered ethically acceptable, other forms have been criticized for violating user autonomy or disadvantaging users. Such “controversial PSD” has been labelled inconsistently in the literature, for example as dark patterns or (digital) sludging. Thus, Information Systems (IS) research currently lacks a common vocabulary and conceptual clarity which impedes realizing the potential of PSD in research and practice. To address this issue, we present first results of a systematic literature review on controversial PSD. By compiling an overview of prevalent concepts, this study identifies four focal points of the ethical debate on PSD (intentions, strategies, outcomes, process) and derives implications and a research agenda for IS research

AI‑powered recommender systems and the preservation of personal autonomy

Recommender Systems (RecSys) have been around since the early days of the Internet, helping users navigate the vast ocean of information and the increasingly available options that have been available for us ever since. The range of tasks for which one could use a RecSys is expanding as the technical capabilities grow, with the disruption of Machine Learning representing a tipping point in this domain, as in many others. However, the increase of the technical capabilities of AI-powered RecSys did not come with a thorough consideration of their ethical implications and, despite being a well-established technical domain, the potential impacts of RecSys on their users are still under-assessed. This paper aims at filling this gap in regards to one of the main impacts of RecSys: personal autonomy. We first describe how technology can affect human values and a suitable methodology to identify these effects and mitigate potential harms: Value Sensitive Design (VSD). We use VSD to carry out a conceptual investigation of personal autonomy in the context of a generic RecSys and draw on a nuanced account of procedural autonomy to focus on two components: competence and authenticity. We provide the results of our inquiry as a value hierarchy and apply it to the design of a speculative RecSys as an exampleUniversidad de Granada/ CBUAAgencia Estatal de Investigación (PID2019-104943RB-I00) FEDER/ Junta de Andalucía (B-HUM-64- UGR20

Nudging Compliance: Empowering Public Employees to Uphold Regulations and Safeguard Against Corruption

[EN]The aim of this doctoral thesis is to critically assess, from a theoretical standpoint, the employment of Nudge and Compliance techniques in the public sector as a conduit for enhancing adherence to regulations by public servants, and thereby averting corrupt practices within the public administration environment. With this, the intention is to contribute to the development of policies and practices that enhance integrity and efficiency in public management

Neuroliberalism and Beyond

This paper evaluates the healthy lifestyle promotion corporation known as Blue Zones by focusing on their approach to behavioral modification. The analysis relies on popular theories of governmentality such as neoliberalism, libertarian paternalism, and neuroliberalism that seek to explain how personal forms of knowledge intersect with mechanisms of social control to influence the creation of policy. Through a content-analysis of the organization’s foundational text, I argue that Blue Zones is best understood as a form of neuroliberalism because it grants individuals the autonomy to be their own choice architects

Digital Nudging: Altering User Behavior in Digital Environments

Individuals make increasingly more decisions on screens, such as those on websites or mobile apps. However, the nature of screens and the vast amount of information available online make individuals particularly prone to deficient decisions. Digital nudging is an approach based on insights from behavioral economics that applies user interface (UI) design elements to affect the choices of users in digital environments. UI design elements include graphic design, specific content, wording or small features. To date, little is known about the psychological mechanisms that underlie digital nudging. To address this research gap, we conducted a systematic literature review and provide a comprehensive overview of relevant psychological effects and exemplary nudges in the physical and digital sphere. These insights serve as a valuable basis for researchers and practitioners that aim to study or design information systems and interventions that assist user decision making on screens

Storing and representing smart nudges in a user profile

Oppgaven handler om hvordan informasjon og struktur en bruker profil trenger for og og kunne lagre smart nudges, og bruke dette til og finne brukerens preferanser. Et design på brukerprofil er laget og dette designet er brukt for og implementere en brukerprofil som inneholder smart nudger