Social Pressure on Heavy Thinkers? The Influence of Need for Cognition on Pre-Purchase Social Norm Nudges

The design of user interfaces has seen an increasing use of digital nudging principles in recent years. Research has shown many nudging principles, like defaults or social norms, to be effective in persuasive systems. So far though, little research has focused on the user’s personality and its influence on the efficacy of such nudges. This paper investigates the influence of an individual’s need for cognition on the effectiveness of a digital social norms nudge. The experimental design operationalized an information research task for further education offerings. The results indicate that users with a higher need for cognition are 29.1% less likely to select the nudged option. This result aligns with theoretical findings but contrasts another study within the purchase stage of a customer journey that did not find significant moderation effects. It demonstrates the need for a careful consideration of users’ personality traits when using digital nudges in persuasive systems