Ongoing Projects

RESEARCH QUESTION

The study analyzed the role of two institutions (University and AVIS) in promoting prosocial behavior among students, specifically on blood donation, through the use of behavioral norms: social norms or norms prototypical of the institution. The project has been conducted in collaboration with AVIS Milano and at the moment an international cooperation is being activated with the Federal University of Pernambuco (Brazil).

RESULTS

The results showed that when the norm used is incorporated into the mission and values of the institution, the message loses salience and is less effective in promoting blood donation, showing what we can define as an Institutional Discounting Effect. The stimuli that have proved to be the most persuasive are the less typical ones, but still consistent with the mission of the institution, since they do not suffer the redundancy determined by the characteristics of the institution that is the promoter of the message.

THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CONTRIBUTION

This work has highlighted the importance of not considering the Nudge as a general "recipe" of universal validity.  Research on the promotion of prosocial behavior should take into account the relationship between the message, the source and the degree of identification with the source in the construction of the architecture of choice.