Work

Can Financial Incentives Help People Trying to Establish New Habits? Experimental Evidence with New Gym Members

Year: 2017

Type: report

Study designs: Randomized Controlled Trial, Clinical Trial

Abstract: We conducted a randomized controlled trial testing the effect of modest incentives to attend the gym among new members of a fitness facility, a population that is already engaged in trying to change a health behavior.Our experiment randomized 836 new members of a private gym into a control group, receiving a $30 payment unconditionally, or one of 3 incentive groups, receiving a payment if they attended the gym at least 9 times over their first 6 weeks as members.The incentives were a $30 payment, a $60 payment, and an item costing $30 that leveraged the endowment effect.These incentives had only moderate impacts on attendance during members' first 6 weeks and no effect on their subsequent visit trajectories.We document substantial overconfidence among new members about their likely visit rates and discuss how overconfidence may undermine the effectiveness of a modest incentive program.

Source: National Bureau of Economic Research

DOI: 10.3386/w23567

Authors: Mariana Carrera, Heather Royer, Mark Stehr, Justin Sydnor

Institutions: National Bureau of Economic Research, Case Western Reserve University, University of California, Santa Barbara, Drexel University, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Language: English

Topic: Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics

Subfield: General Decision Sciences

Field: Decision Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: University of Pennsylvania, University of California, Santa Barbara

OpenAlex ID: W3025360187

Cites: 14

Cited by: 2

Related to: 10