Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
6-2024
Abstract
Being overweight or obese is a serious public health problem. Misperception of one's own weight status and inertia are major obstacles to weight control. To overcome these two problems, we conduct a randomized controlled trial in which participants are presented with the correct weight category based on their body mass index to remove any weight misperception, and then given six biweekly reminders about healthy diet and physical activity via SMS/email. We find that our intervention reduces individuals’ weight misperception and encourages healthier dietary choices. However, it has little impact on their physical activity. We further show that people who were obese and those who underestimated their weight status in the baseline survey maintain healthier dietary choices for at least six months after the intervention.
Keywords
Health behavior, Weight perception, Information nudge, Online survey experiment
Discipline
Asian Studies | Health Economics | Health Information Technology
Research Areas
Applied Microeconomics
Publication
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Volume
222
First Page
332
Last Page
353
ISSN
0167-2681
Identifier
10.1016/j.jebo.2024.04.029
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
WANG, Lanjie; ZHANG, Xuan; KIM; and KOH, Kanghyock.
Weight misperceptions and health management via information nudges. (2024). Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 222, 332-353.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soe_research/2776
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2024.04.029