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Incentives, Commitments and Habit Formation in Exercise: Evidence from a Field Experiment with Workers at a Fortune-500 Company

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Listed:
  • Heather Royer
  • Mark F. Stehr
  • Justin R. Sydnor

Abstract

Financial incentives have been shown to have strong positive short‐run effects for problematic health behaviors, but the effects often disappear once incentive programs end. This paper analyzes the results of a large‐scale workplace field experiment to examine whether self‐funded commitment contracts improve the long‐run effects of incentive programs. Consistent with existing findings, workers responded strongly to an incentive targeting use of the company gym, but long‐run effects were modest, at best. However, workers in the treatment arm that combined the incentive program with a commitment contract option showed long‐lasting behavioral changes, persisting even 1 year after the incentive ended.

Suggested Citation

  • Heather Royer & Mark F. Stehr & Justin R. Sydnor, 2012. "Incentives, Commitments and Habit Formation in Exercise: Evidence from a Field Experiment with Workers at a Fortune-500 Company," NBER Working Papers 18580, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18580
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emre Ozdenoren & Stephen W. Salant & Dan Silverman, 2012. "Willpower And The Optimal Control Of Visceral Urges," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 342-368, April.
    2. repec:feb:artefa:0089 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. List, John A., 2009. "An introduction to field experiments in economics," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 439-442, June.
    4. Philip Babcock & Kelly Bedard & Gary Charness & John Hartman & Heather Royer, 2011. "Letting Down the Team? Evidence of Social Effects of Team Incentives," NBER Working Papers 16687, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

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