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A Text-Message Nudge Intervention To Increase Student Professional Development Education, Catherine Voss Plaxton

Dissertations

This experimental study explored the effects of a text-message intervention on college sophomore and junior engagement in professional development at San José State University. One goal of the study was to assess whether status quo bias poses a barrier to student preparation for the college-to-work transition. A second goal was to measure the impact of a text-message, behavioral design intervention intended to influence real-time decision-making and overcome status quo bias toward professional development. The treatment intervention had a weak positive, but not significant, effect on student engagement in professional development. Alternative explanations were sought for post-intervention differences in professional development …