Persuasive technology against public nuisance: Public urination in the urban nightlife district

Assumptions of the goal framing theory are applied to the specific context of a nightlife environment. Focusing on public urination as specific and often occurring antisocial behaviour in nightlife environments, this research explored how choice behaviour of potential public urinators can be influenced in a positive way. One boundary condition was to intervene in choice behaviour without negatively affecting the widely appreciated attractive and stimulating character of nightlife environments. Five experimental forms of nudging and priming are conducted to facilitate alternative social behaviour and to further stimulate potential public urinators to perform social behaviour. This was done by activating positive emotions, presenting visible and accessible alternatives and influencing subjective norms. Facilitating social behaviour reduced public urination by 41%, while additional interventions reduced public urination up to 67%. The results contribute to an extension of goal framing theory to specific contexts like nightlife environments.