Institutional discounting effect in nudging health-relevant behaviors among students

This study explores the role of norm nudging in shaping the health-related decisions of college students, focusing on the interaction between institutional sources and message types. We investigate how the alignment between the messenger (institution) and the message can amplify or diminish the salience of information, by introducing the concept of the Institutional Discounting Effect (IDE) to describe the reduced effectiveness of messages that are overly aligned with institutional values. In three studies, we aimed to increase undergraduates' propensity to donate blood and decrease their intentions to consume alcohol by examining two institutional sources (NGOs and the University) and two types of messages: prosocial norms and informational messages typical of NGOs, and descriptive social norms. Our results reveal that NGOs are more effective in conveying social norms than their traditional prosocial and informational messaging strategies. In contrast, universities excel at communicating prosocial and ethical messages rather than using social norms. These findings underscore the crucial need to carefully match messenger and message to maximize communication effectiveness and avoid the IDE.