New grant: CBS re­search­ers to study emer­ging trend in pub­lic sec­tor work­places

It makes good sense to nudge citizens to put their rubbish in a bin rather than leaving it in the gutter. Or to encourage us to take the stairs instead of the escalator.

In recent years, however, nudging – or more precisely behavioural design – has moved into public sector organisations as a management instrument. The aim is to encourage employees to act in a particular way without necessarily being consciously aware of it.

But what are the advantages and disadvantages? Both in practical and ethical terms?

Associate Professor Kirstine Zinck Pedersen (PI) and Associate Professor Trine Pallesen (co-PI) have just received more than DKK 6.3 million to examine these questions. The grant comes from the Independent Research Fund Denmark, Social Sciences and Business. They will lead the research project together and plan to employ a postdoc as well as a PhD student.

Fieldwork ahead

“We will, among other things, visit a number of public sector workplaces and observe how behavioural design changes employees’ tasks, including their interactions with, for example, patients, jobseekers and other citizen groups. We will also follow some public sector employees as they are trained as behavioural designers,” says Kirstine Zinck Pedersen.

Trine Pallesen adds that behavioural design is being used as a form of change management, but that we know very little about what happens when it is applied to transform public sector work:

“On the one hand, there is probably a lot of sense in it. The idea is that employees can act faster, more efficiently and in a desired direction. But it is also a delicate balancing act. What if changes are introduced that would previously have prompted professional reflection or debate, which then disappears?”

Kirstine Zinck Pedersen offers a hypothetical example:

“If, for instance, you want doctors to prescribe less of a particular medication and therefore consistently place it at the bottom of a list, responsibility is shifted and professional discretion is narrowed. If this happens in many parts of the public sector, it could ultimately change the quality of services and the citizen experience.”