Search

Influences of background music on consumer behavior have economic potential for businesses. However, the precise parameters for manipulating these effects have remained elusive. In this study, the impact of different genres of background music on consumer spending was examined in three branches each of both a Japanese-themed and a Mexican-themed restaurant chain in Singapore. Three music genre conditions (“pop,” “traditional,” “mix”) corresponding to the restaurants’ cultural theme, were played for a week in each restaurant. Data on total spending and spending per customer were collected and analyzed. While direct music genre effects were not statistically significant, results indicated certain trends where higher consumer expenditure was observed in conditions utilizing a mixture of pop and traditional music (“mix”). Specifically, spending per customer for the “mix” condition was 11.4% higher than for “pop” for the Japanese restaurant, whereas it was 6.3% higher for the “mix” condition than for “traditional” for the Mexican restaurant. The results suggest that music could be tailored to different days of the week to appeal to different customer profiles and that music can be parameterized to influence consumer behaviors.

With roots beyond behavioural economics to psychology, nudges can be applied for influencing healthy behaviours such as food choice and portions to decrease obesity for better public health outcomes. However, the effectiveness of the type of nudges are contentious with conflicting literature. In this pilot study, we conducted a 23-day study surveying the food choices that included portion, locus of control, demographic data, and psychological measures of personality, perceived stress, narcissism, regulatory focus, food choice motive and dietary restraint, with the participants given four intervention conditions of 12 instant messaging sent every two days through WhatsApp. The messages were either factual (control), focused on consequences, through social comparison, or persuasive. Running over the COVID19 pandemic, 17 participants completed the full surveys showing significant effects between the experimental conditions with the psychological parameters except for diet confidence and extraversion and conscientiousness, as well as cognitive restraint. We found BMI and waistline measurements to be suitable measurements, with promising results from the fear and social comparison nudges for food-related behaviours and exercise. Our pilot findings have implications to the use of nudges upon which future studies investigating psychological factors can build on.