Behavioral Insights on Governing Social Transitions

The starting point of our paper is the debate on the legitimacy of employing behavioral insights in public policy that was generated by the publication of Thaler and Sunstein’s book on nudges in 2008. Over time, this debate has shifted towards the question to what extent governments should make a call on individuals to change their behavior in achieving policy objectives – potentially at the cost of initiating system changes as governments themselves. In reviewing these recent developments, we take the “disputable duality” (Bandura, 2000, p. 77) that pits individual behavior against institutional structures as representing different levels of influence as a point of departure for exploring novel ways of engaging people as a community to reconcile both approaches to societal transitions. We argue that any suggestions that ‘the system’ and ‘people’ operate independently from each other are untrue. Instead, we posit that institutional arrangements influence how people behave and vice versa. In doing so, we aim to demonstrate the potential of groups working together on a shared goal that inspires them contribute autonomously to a public cause such as the sustainability transition as a model for governing the sustainability transition without coercive or devious tactics.