When choice matters
The asymmetric effects of precommitment implementation on healthy food choice
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11289786 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Marta Favara (0000-0002-5764-4654, University of Oxford, corresponding author), Joanna Mihaylova (0009-0006-6413-5125, University of Oxford), Alan Sánchez (0000-0001-7109-8613, University of Oxford) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 114 |
| Pages | 102889 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Economic Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0167-4870 • E-ISSN: 1872-7719 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.joep.2026.102889 |
| OpenAlex | W7127379180 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 24 |
This paper investigates the role of precommitment in making healthy food choices, using a lab-in-the-field experiment embedded in the Young Lives longitudinal study in Peru. Leveraging the fact that participants were scheduled for a blood test and would therefore require a snack afterwards, we elicited participants’ snack choice from a predefined set. Participants were asked whether they wished to pre-commit to their preferred snack choice (either healthy or unhealthy) to be consumed the following day, following their blood test, or to choose the snack on the spot. A randomised subsample was informed about the rationale for precommitment (information treatment) prior to their decision. After deciding whether they would like to pre-commit their snack choice or not, participants were again randomised into two groups: the first group had their preferred choice (either pre-commit or choose on the spot) implemented; in contrast, the second group’s choice was overridden (‘choice override’ treatment). Our findings suggest that: first, there is a high demand for precommitment, with 68.5% of participants wanting to pre-commit their preferred snack choice. Second, the information treatment had no significant effect on participants’ willingness to pre-commit. Third, overriding participants’ precommitment decision leads to asymmetric effects on desired behaviour: for those who had pre-committed to a healthy snack, being forced to choose on the spot decreases healthy food choice; conversely, those who pre-committed to an unhealthy snack were more likely to choose a healthy one. These findings highlight the need to carefully target commitment devices, given their potential asymmetric effects on desired behaviours
Behavioral economics · Dynamic inconsistency · Food choice · Healthy eating · Healthy food · Precommitment · Snack food · Test (biology · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling · Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
Commitment Devices
Myopia and Inconsistency in Dynamic Utility Maximization
A Dual-Self Model of Impulse Control
Doing It Now or Later
Designing Information Provision Experiments
Temptation and Self-Control
Golden Eggs and Hyperbolic Discounting
A Note on Measurement of Utility
RCTs to Scale
Health Behavior in Developing Countries
Self-efficacy
Healthy and unhealthy social norms and food selection. Findings from a field-experiment
Strategies for improving self-control among naïve, sophisticated, and time-consistent consumers
The effects of pre-ordering and behavioral nudges on National School Lunch Program participants’ food item selection
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |