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Cheap promises: Evidence from loan repayment pledges in an online experiment

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  • Syon Bhanot

Abstract

Across domains, people struggle to follow through on their commitments. This can happen for many reasons, including dishonesty, forgetfulness, or insufficient intrinsic motivation. Social scientists have explored the reasons for persistent failures to follow through. suggesting that eliciting explicit promises can be an effective way to motivate action. This paper presents a field experiment that tests the effect of explicit promises, in the form of "honor pledges", on loan repayment rates. The experiment was conducted with LendUp, an online lender, and targeted 4,883 first time-borrowers with the firm. Individuals were randomized into four groups, with the following experimental treatments: (1) having no honor pledge to complete (control); (2) signing a given honor pledge; (3) re-typing the same honor pledge as in (2) before signing; and (4) coming up with a personal honor pledge to type and sign. I also randomized whether or not borrowers were reminded of the honor pledge they signed prior to repayment deadline. The results suggest that the honor pledge treatments had minimal impacts on repayment, and that reminders of the pledges were similarly ineffective. This suggests that borrowers who fail to repay loans do so not because of dishonesty or behavioral biases, but because they suffer from true financial hardship and are simply unable to repay.

Suggested Citation

  • Syon Bhanot, 2017. "Cheap promises: Evidence from loan repayment pledges in an online experiment," Natural Field Experiments 00653, The Field Experiments Website.
    • Handle: RePEc:feb:natura:00653
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

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    2. Nicholas A. Wright & Puneet Arora & Jesse Wright, 2024. "I Promise to Work Hard: The Impact of a Non-Binding Commitment Pledge on Academic Performance," Working Papers 2411, Florida International University, Department of Economics.
    3. Paul Bettega & Paolo Crosetto & Dimitri Dubois & Rustam Romaniuc, 2025. "Hard vs. soft commitments: experimental evidence from a sample of French gamblers," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 98(3), pages 447-472, May.
    4. Croux, Christophe & Jagtiani, Julapa & Korivi, Tarunsai & Vulanovic, Milos, 2020. "Important factors determining Fintech loan default: Evidence from a lendingclub consumer platform," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 270-296.
    5. Paul Bettega & Paolo Crosetto & Dimitri Dubois & Rustam Romaniuc, 2025. "Hard vs. soft commitments: experimental evidence from a sample of French gamblers," Post-Print hal-04193948, HAL.
    6. Luka Koning & Marianne Junger & Joris Hoof, 2020. "Digital signatures: a tool to prevent and predict dishonesty?," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 19(2), pages 257-285, November.
    7. Ekström, Mathias & Bjorvatn, Kjetil & Mota, Pablo Soto & Sjåstad, Hallgeir, 2025. "Making a promise increases the moral cost of lying: Evidence from Norway and the United States," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    8. Kettle, Stewart & Hernandez, Marco & Sanders, Michael & Hauser, Oliver & Ruda, Simon, 2017. "Failure to CAPTCHA Attention: Null Results from an Honesty Priming Experiment in Guatemala," Scholarly Articles 33490945, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    9. Bazart, Cécile & Lefebvre, Mathieu & Rosaz, Julie, 2022. "Promoting socially desirable behaviors through persuasion and commitment: Experimental evidence," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    10. Bonan, Jacopo & d'Adda, Giovanna & Mahmud, Mahreen & Said, Farah, 2020. "The Role of Flexibility and Planning in Repayment Discipline: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Pay-as-You-Go Off-Grid Electricity," RFF Working Paper Series 20-14, Resources for the Future.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D18 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Protection
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages

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