Nudged by a robot: Responses to agency and feedback

Abstract

The availability of always-on digital agents in hotel rooms, providing agency and surveillance cues, presents opportunities for behavioral interventions. This study tested the effectiveness of agency and social feedback on pro-environmental behavior intention of hotel consumers. A survey with scenario-based experimental design was distributed to US and UK travelers (N = 621). Results suggest that no one type of agent was more effective than the other in influencing pro-environmental behavior intention. Social feedback was found effective when given by a virtual assistant. Perception of another agent being ‘present’ in the room, even when invisible, is sufficient to induce normative behavior. This enriches literature on surveillance cues and behavior change and contributes to finding new ways of leveraging emerging technologies to foster sustainability.