The Acceptance of Nudges to Encourage HEI Students to Graduate: A Comparative Study

Abstract The study aims to shed light on the acceptance of nudges to encourage HEI students to graduate successfully and to prevent drop-out. The example of two Central European countries with significantly high drop-out rates examines the acceptance of high- and low-touch nudges. The nudges were classified as high-touch or low-touch based on the potential costs of the intervention and whether the intervention involved in-person interaction. The results show that the general acceptance of proposed nudges is similarly high, whereby high-touch nudges are more popular than low-touch ones in both countries. Further, high-touch nudges have a significantly higher level of acceptance. The findings suggest that a communication form (text messaging, email, face-to-face interaction) can influence the acceptance level of the pro-graduation nudge.