Reducing Single-Use Cutlery in Food Delivery Industry by Social Norm Nudges

Last registered on September 03, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Reducing Single-Use Cutlery in Food Delivery Industry by Social Norm Nudges
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016613
Initial registration date
August 28, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 03, 2025, 8:49 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
China
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Yuhang Pan
Affiliation
Peking University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Guojun He
PI Affiliation
University of Hong Kong
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PI Name
Yasuyuki Sawada
PI Affiliation
University of Tokyo
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PI Name
Elaine Tan
PI Affiliation
Asian Development Bank
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PI Name
Albert Park
PI Affiliation
Asian Development Bank
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2024-01-01
End date
2025-08-31
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy
Additional Keywords
Nudge, Habit
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
The rapid expansion of online food delivery has contributed to the excessive use of single-use cutlery (SUC), posing notable environmental challenges. Traditional policy instruments, such as bans or price-based disincentives, remain difficult to implement in decentralized digital platforms, motivating interest in behavioral interventions as a scalable and low-cost alternative. Beginning in 2024, we started a large-scale field experiment in collaboration with a leading food delivery platform to test whether social norm–based nudges can reduce SUC usage. During the intervention phase, the platform embedded norm reminders into the ordering interface, either highlighting the share of consumers who opt out of SUC (descriptive norm) or appealing to responsible consumption (injunctive norm). After this treatment period, the intervention will be withdrawn, allowing us to examine whether changes in ordering behavior persist once the nudges are removed. This experimental design will provide novel evidence on whether digital norm-based nudges can generate lasting behavioral change through habit formation. The study aims to advance the understanding of pro-environmental behavior in high-frequency digital consumption contexts and to inform the design of scalable, ESG-aligned interventions for sustainable consumption.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
He, Guojun et al. 2025. "Reducing Single-Use Cutlery in Food Delivery Industry by Social Norm Nudges." AEA RCT Registry. September 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16613-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We refer to the first treatment arm as Personalized Historical Feedback (T1). In this condition, the platform provided users with individualized information that reminded them of their own past choices and placed those choices in relation to a broader behavioral benchmark. The intervention therefore combined a personal feedback component with a normative reference, encouraging reflection on one’s own prior behavior in light of social information. The second treatment arm is labeled Descriptive Norms & Identity Labeling (T2). Here, the platform communicated how other consumers had behaved with respect to cutlery usage and simultaneously categorized the focal user as either part of this majority or not.
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2024-02-27
Intervention End Date
2024-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Consumer-level orders and expenditures at the food delivery platform, and their related pro-environmental behaviors reflected via other records.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Share of orders without choosing single-use cutlery.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We conducted a randomized controlled field experiment on a major online food delivery platform beginning in 2024. The purpose of the study is to test whether digital, norm-based messages can influence consumers’ choice to forgo single-use cutlery.
Consumers were randomly assigned into different conditions. The control group will see the standard ordering interface without additional prompts. The first treatment arm, Personalized Historical Feedback (T1), introduces an informational cue that combines feedback on users’ own past ordering choices with a reference to broader behavioral benchmarks. The second treatment arm, Descriptive Norms & Identity Labeling (T2), provides information about the prevalence of cutlery avoidance among other consumers and highlights whether the focal user aligns with this group. After an intervention period, the messages will be removed, and behavior will continue to be tracked to assess whether effects persist in the absence of active nudges, thereby allowing us to study potential habit formation.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Consumer
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2% consumers in selected cities.
Sample size: planned number of observations
In the round of analysis, we will randomly select about 200,000 consumers.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
1% of consumers in selected cities for each treatment arm.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials