The effects of pre-ordering and behavioral nudges on National School Lunch Program participants’ food item selection

• Published in: Journal of economic psychology Vol. 55; pp. 4 - 16
• Main Authors: Miller, Gabrielle F., Gupta, Sonam, Kropp, Jaclyn D., Grogan, Kelly A., Mathews, Anne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.08.2016; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Subjects: Food products; Food selection; Nudging; Nutrition; Pre-commitment; Pre-ordering; School lunch; School lunches; Software; Student behavior; Students; Studies; United States > US; Pre-ordering; Pre-commitment; Food selection; Nudging; Q18; I12; C93; School lunch; 3900
• ISSN: 0167-4870; 1872-7719
• DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2016.02.010

•We examined the effects of pre-ordering and nudging on school lunch item selection.•Meal composition data were collected for National School Lunch Program participants.•Two treatments were administered: pre-ordering and pre-ordering with nudging.•Students who pre-ordered meals selected significantly more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat milk.•Nudging further increased the selection of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat milk. This paper examines the effects of pre-ordering and pre-ordering with behavioral nudges on the selection of fruits, vegetables, and low-fat milk by National School Lunch Program (NSLP) participants in a Florida school. After collecting two weeks of baseline data, students in grades four and five were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: the first treatment group pre-ordered their lunches online using a unique software program; the second treatment group received behavioral nudges based on United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) MyPlate recommendations while pre-ordering. Student in grades four and seven served as the control group and continued to obtain their lunches through the normal lunch line. Using difference-in-difference regression analysis, we find that students in the first treatment group selected significantly more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat milk during the pre-ordering intervention phase of the study relative to students in the control group, 27.7%, 15.8%, and 16.3%, respectively, while students in the second treatment group selected significantly more fruits (51.4%), vegetables (29.7%) and low-fat milk (37.3%) than students in the control group. In addition, we find the nudge had a statistically significant positive effect in addition to the effect of pre-ordering; students who received the MyPlate nudge while pre-ordering selected statistically significantly more fruits, vegetables, and low-fat milk than students who pre-ordered without nudging.