Beyond Nudging: Anchoring Boosting in the Service-Dominant Logic
(A2019-9668)

AUTHORS

Martin Bieler, University of St. Gallen, Institute of Insurance Economics

KEYWORDS

Boosting; Decision-Making; Heuristics

ABSTRACT

Consumers, especially in services industries, face complex and impactful decisions while information asymmetry significantly favors providers. To make adequate insurance purchase decisions, consumers often lack financial and numerical literacy as well as product knowledge. They are also subject to behavioral biases, which companies have increasingly attempted to address by nudging their prospective customers. While nudging has been shown to be highly effective, it has many downsides – amongst others, it impairs peoples’ choice agency and is ethically questionable. This can lead to adverse consequences for companies suddenly facing consumers’ backlash. A consumer-centric approach to enable consumers’ services decision-making is required. We propose to transfer boosting, a methodology resulting out of the simple heuristics school, to marketing. To that end, we define boosting, show how it can be rooted in the service-dominant logic and operationalized in financial services marketing.