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Put a Bet on It: Can Self-Funded Commitment Contracts Curb Fitness Procrastination?

Spika, Devon LU ; Wickström Östervall, Linnea Wickström ; Gerdtham, Ulf-Göran LU orcid and Wengström, Erik LU (2023) In Working Papers
Abstract
This paper investigates the use of self-funded commitment contracts to support individuals in achieving their goals of increased physical activity. We compare the effect of soft (non-incentivised) commitment contracts with hard (incentivised) contracts using a randomised experiment with 1629 members of a large gym in Stockholm, Sweden. We find a significant positive impact of being offered a hard contract on monthly visits to the gym and the probability of meeting one's contract goal. Hard and soft commitment contracts increase gym visits by 21% and 8%, respectively, relative to the control group. Trait self-control is negatively associated with the likelihood of accepting a contract and accepting to add stakes. The effect of soft and hard... (More)
This paper investigates the use of self-funded commitment contracts to support individuals in achieving their goals of increased physical activity. We compare the effect of soft (non-incentivised) commitment contracts with hard (incentivised) contracts using a randomised experiment with 1629 members of a large gym in Stockholm, Sweden. We find a significant positive impact of being offered a hard contract on monthly visits to the gym and the probability of meeting one's contract goal. Hard and soft commitment contracts increase gym visits by 21% and 8%, respectively, relative to the control group. Trait self-control is negatively associated with the likelihood of accepting a contract and accepting to add stakes. The effect of soft and hard commitment contracts does not, however, differ by trait self-control. Importantly, we find that the effects of both hard and soft contracts were greatest among participants who reported exercising the least at baseline. Our experiment explores the use of a completely self-funded and highly scalable intervention. Our experimental design allows us to shed light on the importance of hard penalties in designing commitment contracts. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Incentives, Commitment contract, Self-control, Gym attendance, C93, D03, I12
in
Working Papers
issue
2023:4
pages
82 pages
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
fdf4c5f0-dfee-4bea-ba81-565c5145852b
date added to LUP
2023-04-19 10:29:09
date last changed
2024-03-08 14:58:50
@misc{fdf4c5f0-dfee-4bea-ba81-565c5145852b,
  abstract     = {{This paper investigates the use of self-funded commitment contracts to support individuals in achieving their goals of increased physical activity. We compare the effect of soft (non-incentivised) commitment contracts with hard (incentivised) contracts using a randomised experiment with 1629 members of a large gym in Stockholm, Sweden. We find a significant positive impact of being offered a hard contract on monthly visits to the gym and the probability of meeting one's contract goal. Hard and soft commitment contracts increase gym visits by 21% and 8%, respectively, relative to the control group. Trait self-control is negatively associated with the likelihood of accepting a contract and accepting to add stakes. The effect of soft and hard commitment contracts does not, however, differ by trait self-control. Importantly, we find that the effects of both hard and soft contracts were greatest among participants who reported exercising the least at baseline. Our experiment explores the use of a completely self-funded and highly scalable intervention. Our experimental design allows us to shed light on the importance of hard penalties in designing commitment contracts.}},
  author       = {{Spika, Devon and Wickström Östervall, Linnea Wickström and Gerdtham, Ulf-Göran and Wengström, Erik}},
  keywords     = {{Incentives; Commitment contract; Self-control; Gym attendance; C93; D03; I12}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2023:4}},
  series       = {{Working Papers}},
  title        = {{Put a Bet on It: Can Self-Funded Commitment Contracts Curb Fitness Procrastination?}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/173497229/WP23_4.pdf}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}