When and why incentives (don't) work to modify behavior

First we discuss how extrinsic incentives may come into conflict with other motivations. For example, monetary incentives from principals may change how tasks are perceived by agents, with negative effects on behavior. In other cases, incentives might have the desired effects in the short term, but...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of economic perspectives Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 191 - 210
Main Authors: Gneezy, Uri, Meier, Stephan, Rey-Biel, Pedro
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Nashville American Economic Association 01.10.2011
Subjects:
Academic achievement
Anreizsystem
Arbeitsanreiz
Arbeitsleistung
Arbeitsmotivation
Behavior
Behavior modification
Bildungsertrag
Bildungsmotivation
Blood & organ donations
Change agents
Cigarette smoking
College professors
Economic behaviour
Economic incentives
Economic motivation
Economic theory
Education
Educational incentives
Financial incentives
Gesundheitsverhalten
Habitual behavior
Habitus
Human behaviour
Incentives
Intrinsic motivation
Job performance
Lebensweise
Leistungsmotivation
Life styles
Monetary incentives
Motivation
Perceptions
Principals
Public goods
Reading
Reading acquisition
Reziprozität
School attendance
Short term
Smoking
Smoking cessation
Soziales Verhalten
Students
Studies
Unemployment
Utility functions
Verhaltenstheorie
Verhaltensänderung
ISSN:0895-3309, 1944-7965
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:First we discuss how extrinsic incentives may come into conflict with other motivations. For example, monetary incentives from principals may change how tasks are perceived by agents, with negative effects on behavior. In other cases, incentives might have the desired effects in the short term, but they still weaken intrinsic motivations. To put it in concrete terms, an incentive for a child to learn to read might achieve that goal in the short term, but then be counterproductive as an incentive for students to enjoy reading and seek it out over their lifetimes. Next we examine the research literature on three important examples in which monetary incentives have been used in a nonemployment context to foster the desired behavior: education; increasing contributions to public goods; and helping people change their lifestyles, particularly with regard to smoking and exercise. The conclusion sums up some lessons on when extrinsic incentives are more or less likely to alter such behaviors in the desired directions.
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ISSN:0895-3309
1944-7965
DOI:10.1257/jep.25.4.191