Getting a foot in the door with drinking and driving: A field study of healthy influence

The persuasion tactic, foot‐in‐the‐door, was employed to increase compliance with a bartender's request to call a taxi for alcohol‐impaired patrons in a bar. Randomly selected treatment participants (n = 15) were asked to sign a petition against drunk driving in the bar and were given an informational pamphlet. Control participants (n = 15) were not approached. Over the course of six weeks, all participants were asked to call a taxi when they became alcohol‐impaired. Results showed a strong, statistically significant effect for FITD (phi = .50). Evidence indicates that FITD can be easily and successfully implemented in field settings.