Nudging: The unexpected impact on observers’ inference of donors’ prosocial behavior

We proposed that although nudging may encourage participation, being nudged may undermine the intrinsic motivation of a donor’s prosocial behavior in the eyes of an observer. In 3 studies spanning various contexts of prosocial nudging (Ns = 198, 141, and 267 university students, respectively), we demonstrated that observers perceived a donor who was (vs. was not) nudged as less intrinsically motivated to help others. The findings suggested that the perceived motive of a donor’s prosocial behavior is inferred by observers not only from the behavior itself but also from whether or not the behavior is a product of nudging. By investigating the consequences of nudging from the observer’s perspective, we have provided a new lens for understanding the role of nudging in the prosocial domain.