Put a Bet on It: Can Self-Funded Commitment Contracts Curb Fitness Procrastination?
(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)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/fdf4c5f0-dfee-4bea-ba81-565c5145852b
- author
- Spika, Devon LU ; Wickström Östervall, Linnea Wickström ; Gerdtham, Ulf-Göran LU and Wengström, Erik LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2023
- 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}}, }