You Can’t “Nudge” Nuggets: An Investigation of Late Night Dining With Behavioral Economics Interventions

A mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate and improve the “Late-Night Dining” options in a university dining hall. Surveys assessed student desires around Late-Night offerings, and evaluated students’ habits and motivations during Late-Night. Two interventions based on the principles of behavioral economics were implemented to see if students could be “nudged” into making healthier choices. In the first, a “veggie-heavy” entrée was added at the beginning of the entrée line, so that students would substitute a healthier entrée for the less healthy alternatives. In the second, a healthy snack-food bar was set up to cater to students who didn’t want to stand in the long entrée line. Data on food choice was collected during the interventions. Survey responses showed significant differences in the reasons females and males utilized Late-Night Dining (p Following our interventions, Dining Services continued to offer the healthy snack bar, and veggie-heavy entrées were included in the rotation of Late-Night entrée options

Ordered logistic regressions for student health scores.

<p>Ordered logistic regressions for student health scores.</p

Descriptive statistics.

<p>Descriptive statistics.</p

Vegetable-heavy intervention observations.

<p>Percentage breakdowns of daily student food choice during our first intervention period.</p

Examples of student feedback.

<p>Examples of student feedback.</p

Survey questions and variables.

<p>Survey questions and variables.</p