Choice Architecture in digital domain : Influencing user’s behaviour in mobile applications via choice architecture methodologies

Abstract

Decisions are part of our everyday life. But more often than we realize, the very decisions we make might in fact not be entirely ours – no matter how much we like to think otherwise. The decisions and judgment of humans are influenced by a multitude of factors, ranging from emotions to social norms and from weather outside to even personal rules of thumb. And, above all, some times deliberate actions are being taken to influence our decisions in order to steer our choices towards a desired direction. But equally often that might just be what is needed. In contrary to our often common beliefs, we humans might not always be as good or rational decision-makers than what we would hope. To aid us in making better decisions a choice architect enters the picture.

The power of Choice Architecture lies within its underlying principle to understand the psychology of the decision-making process of humans. In addition to search for answers why humans are affected and influenced in such numerous ways, choice architecture also exposes a pragmatic side in it as well, from which tangible and implementable tools can be derived.

In the following pages we dive into the world of choice architecture. The goal of this thesis is to build a foundational and coherent understanding of what choice architecture is, where it originates from and how it bridges to the modern digital domain. Theory covered in the literature review of this thesis works as a basis from where connections are then made to the digital world, and more specifically to mobile applications. A total of 98 sources were analysed for the research and 42 contributed to building the knowledge base.

After the literature review, the theory is put into practice via case studies. A process framework to design choice architecture methods for digital use is examined. As an outcome is a set of proposals in which various implementations are explored. In conjunction with the framework, reasoning is derived from previous research and discoveries found within the field of choice architecture.

The results of the research conducted in this thesis show great potential in combining the tools of choice architecture and the digital domain. A person working among digital products or services can greatly benefit from understanding choice architecture, since it can offer a supplementary layer that has the capability to co-operate with a variety of other skills required in designing digital products.