Adapting Interventions to Culture Can Improve Effectiveness and Cost-Efficiency (original) (raw)

Abstract

The last few decades have seen ambitious new mega-studies testing ways to change people's behavior for good. Studies with thousands of participants have tested the effectiveness of financial incentives and psychological nudges to encourage people to get vaccinated, go to the gym, and work harder. The emerging theme across these studies is that money tends to work better than nudges. Yet most of this research has been done in Western cultures. This paper reviews studies testing interventions outside of the West. Those studies often find that the power of money is smaller, with psychological nudges sometimes more cost-efficient than financial incentives. What's more, the messages that come with interventions tend to be more effective outside of Western cultures if they emphasize interdependence and connection to other people. In sum, new evidence is suggesting policymakers should be careful about exporting the lessons from mega-studies done in the West to cultures outside the West (and even groups within Western countries with different cultural norms, such as middle class versus working class Americans). Instead, new studies are pointing to ways to deliver interventions more effectively in non-Western cultures.

Get full access to this article

View all access and purchase options for this article.

References

Benartzi S., Beshears J., Milkman K. L., Sunstein C. R., Thaler R. H., Shankar M., Tucker-Ray W., Congdon W. J., Galing S. (2017). Should governments invest more in nudging? Psychological Science, 28(8), 1041–1055. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797617702501

Benet-Martínez V., Leu J., Lee F., Morris M. W. (2002). Negotiating biculturalism: Cultural frame switching in biculturals with oppositional versus compatible cultural identities. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33(5), 492–516. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022102033005005

Bertrand M., Mullainathan S., Shafir E. (2006). Behavioral economics and marketing in aid of decision making among the poor. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 25(1), 8–23. https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.25.1.8

Burnham M., Le Y., Piedmont R. (2018). Who is Mturk? Personal characteristics and sample consistency of these online workers. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 21(9–10), 934–944. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2018.1486394

Campos-Mercade P., Meier A. N., Schneider F. H., Meier S., Pope D., Wengström E. (2021). Monetary incentives increase COVID-19 vaccinations. Science, 374(6569), 879–882. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm0475

Cohen J., Dupas P. (2010). Free distribution or cost-sharing? Evidence from a randomized malaria prevention experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 125(1), 1–45. https://doi.org/10.1162/qjec.2010.125.1.1

Dai H., Saccardo S., Han M. A., Roh L., Raja N., Vangala S., Modi H., Pandya S., Sloyan M., Croymans D. M. (2021). Behavioural nudges increase COVID-19 vaccinations. Nature, 597(7876), 404–409. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03843-2

Deci E. L. (1971). Effects of externally mediated rewards on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 18(1), 105–115. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0030644

Gneezy U., List J. A., Livingston J. A., Qin X., Sadoff S., Xu Y. (2019). Measuring success in education: The role of effort on the test itself. American Economic Review: Insights, 1(3), 291–308. https://doi.org/10.1257/aeri.20180633

Kassirer S., Jami A., Kouchaki M. (2024). Is in-kind kinder than cash? The impact of money vs. Food aid on social emotions and aid take-up. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(38), e2310025121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310025121

Luna D., Ringberg T., Peracchio L. A. (2008). One individual, two identities: Frame switching among biculturals. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(2), 279–293. https://doi.org/10.1086/586914

Medvedev D., Davenport D., Talhelm T., Li Y. (2024). The motivating effect of monetary over psychological incentives is stronger in western cultures. Nature Human Behaviour, 8, 456–470. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01769-5

Merton R. K. (1936). The unanticipated consequences of purposive social action. American Sociological Review, 1(6), 894–904. https://doi.org/10.2307/2084615

Milkman K. L., Gromet D., Ho H., Kay J. S., Lee T. W., Pandiloski P., Park Y., Rai A., Bazerman M., Beshears J., Bonacorsi L., Camerer C., Chang E., Chapman G., Cialdini R., Dai H., Eskreis-Winkler L., Fishbach A., Gross J. J., Duckworth A. L. (2021). Megastudies improve the impact of applied behavioural science. Nature, 600(7889), 478–483. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04128-4

Pelham B., Hardin C., Murray D. R., Shimizu M., Vandello J. A. (2022). A truly global, non-WEIRD examination of collectivism: The global collectivism Index (GCI). Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology, 3, 100030. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cresp.2021.100030

Rabb N., Swindal M., Glick D., Bowers J., Tomasulo A., Oyelami Z., Wilson K. H., Yokum D. (2022). Evidence from a statewide vaccination RCT shows the limits of nudges. Nature, 604(7904), E1–E7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04526-2

Rani U., Furrer M. (2021). Digital labour platforms and new forms of flexible work in developing countries: Algorithmic management of work and workers. Competition & Change, 25(2), 212–236. https://doi.org/10.1177/1024529420905187

Snibbe A. C., Markus H. R. (2005). You can’t always get what you want: Educational attainment, agency, and choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88(4), 703–720. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.4.703

Stephens N. M., Townsend S. S., Markus H. R., Phillips L. T. (2012). A cultural mismatch: Independent cultural norms produce greater increases in cortisol and more negative emotions among first-generation college students. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(6), 1389–1393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.07.008

Talhelm T., Medvedev D., Li Y. (2025). The homo economicus model of work describes men more than women, but only in WEIRD cultures. Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality, 43(3), 29–52. https://doi.org/10.24926/25730037.717

Talhelm T., Wei L., Sun R., Medvedev D., San Martin A., Helmy M., Samekin A., Zaragoza Scherman A., English A. S.; The Responsibilism Collaboration Team. (R&R). Collectivism isn’t what people think it is: A study of 100 cultures. Nature Human Behaviour.

Thomas C. C., Otis N. G., Abraham J. R., Markus H. R., Walton G. M. (2020). Toward a science of delivering aid with dignity: Experimental evidence and local forecasts from Kenya. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(27), 15546–15553. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1917046117

Thomson R., Yuki M., Talhelm T., Schug J., Kito M., Ayanian A. H., Becker J. C., Becker M., Chiu C., Choi H.-S., Ferreira C. M., Fülöp M., Gul P., Houghton-Illera A. M., Joasoo M., Jong J., Kavanagh C. M., Khutkyy D., Manzi C., Visserman M. L. (2018). Relational mobility predicts social behaviors in 39 countries and is tied to historical farming and threat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 115(29), 7521–7526. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1713191115