Receiving and engaging: can a simple ICT delivered government message change citizen health behavior? A field experiment

In the digital age, governments can reach thousands of citizens easily and at a low cost using information and communication technology (ICT). However, little is known about whether such ICT-delivered messages are received by citizens and result in behavioural change. We develop a theory about the barriers that government messages need to overcome if citizens are to receive a message and engage in it. We test the effects of a government health message in a large-scale field experiment among 4,880 representative citizens. The results show that small-scale government information campaigns delivered through ICT can succeed in changing citizen behaviour.