We draw on the focus theory of normative conduct and nudge theory to experimentally test the effect of descriptive social norms on desired behaviors that public employees may engage in at suboptimal levels, namely, vaccination and help-seeking. Through a series of framed randomized controlled trials with 19,984 public healthcare professionals, we demonstrate that descriptive norms—doing what the majority of others do—trigger conformity. Specifically, employees are more likely to get a flu shot and advocate vaccination when knowing that the majority of their colleagues get vaccinated against the seasonal influenza compared to when most colleagues do not. Similarly, the probability of making help requests on the job is noticeably higher when asking colleagues for advice is the norm rather than not. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these experiments for scholars and policy makers interested in predictably altering high-stakes behaviors among public employees through low-powered incentives.

中文翻译：

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通过医疗机构中的描述性社会规范来推动公职人员

我们利用规范行为的焦点理论和轻推理论，通过实验测试描述性社会规范对公共雇员可能在次优水平（即疫苗接种和寻求帮助）中从事的期望行为的影响。通过对 19,984 名公共医疗保健专业人员进行的一系列随机对照试验，我们证明了描述性规范——做大多数其他人所做的事情——会触发一致性。具体而言，与大多数同事没有接种季节性流感疫苗相比，员工在知道他们的大多数同事接种了季节性流感疫苗时更有可能接种流感疫苗并提倡接种疫苗。同样，当向同事寻求建议是常态而不是非常态时，在工作中提出帮助请求的可能性明显更高。