Nudges y procesos cognitivos en la administración pública: una revisión sistemática y agenda de investigación
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Las intervenciones de tipo nudge se han vuelto centrales en el debate sobre la innovación en políticas públicas, contribuyendo a la reevaluación de los instrumentos tradicionales de gobernanza y gestión pública. Sin embargo, el potencial de aplicar estas intervenciones en distintos procesos —tanto internos como externos— de la administración pública aún no ha sido plenamente explorado. Por lo tanto, a partir de una revisión sistemática híbrida de la literatura, este estudio tuvo como objetivo identificar y sintetizar los principales temas de investigación, los tipos de intervenciones, los dominios organizacionales y los fundamentos conductuales asociados a la aplicación de nudges en el entorno interno de las organizaciones públicas. El análisis se basa en un portafolio de 54 artículos seleccionados de las bases de datos Scopus y Web of Science, de los cuales 11 estudios que abordan explícitamente la aplicación de nudges en el contexto organizacional público conforman el subconjunto sometido al análisis cualitativo. Los resultados indican que, si bien el interés por los nudges en la administración pública está en aumento, su aplicación en el ámbito organizacional público sigue siendo limitada, con un predominio de estudios centrados en el comportamiento ciudadano. Se observa la prevalencia de intervenciones de bajo costo cognitivo —como valores predeterminados (defaults), recordatorios, retroalimentación y normas sociales—, concentradas principalmente en los ámbitos del desempeño organizacional, procesos decisorios, comunicación y comportamiento prosocial interno. Además, la literatura revela brechas relacionadas con la integración organizacional de las intervenciones, la alineación entre los mecanismos cognitivos y los tipos de nudge, así como la limitada generalización de los resultados empíricos. Con base en estos hallazgos, el estudio propone una agenda de investigación estructurada en tres ejes analíticos, ofreciendo directrices para investigaciones futuras que profundicen en el uso de los nudges como herramientas de apoyo a la gestión, la toma de decisiones y la implementación de políticas públicas.
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