Strategy, Targets & Performance Management
Default effect
The tendency of people to stick with a pre-selected option, making defaults one of the most powerful levers in behavioural choice architecture.
Expert review openNo editor-accepted expert review yetDefinition
The default effect is the behavioural finding that people disproportionately remain with whichever option is pre-selected — the outcome that occurs if they take no action. It rests on status quo bias, loss aversion, effort avoidance and the perception of the default as an implicit recommendation. Defaults are the single most powerful class of nudge; the canonical example is organ-donation registration, where opt-out systems achieve far higher participation than opt-in systems.
References
definition and organ-donation example
mechanisms and practice
Overview
What it means
Whoever designs the choice sets the likely outcome; "doing nothing" is itself a designed outcome.
How it is used
Sustainability applications include green energy tariffs as the default, double-sided printing, default plant-based options, and automatic enrolment in retirement or recycling schemes.
Why it matters
Defaults change behaviour at population scale without restricting choice or changing prices — a core tool of low-cost sustainability policy.
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