 Motivational goal bracketing: An experimentAlexander Koch and Julia Nafziger Journal of Economic Theory, 2020, vol. 185, issue C Abstract: We study theoretically and experimentally how the bracketing of non-binding goals in a repeated task affects the level of goals that people set for themselves, the actual effort provided, and the pattern of effort over time. In our model, a sophisticated or partially naïve individual sets either daily or weekly goals to overcome a motivational problem caused by present-biased preferences. In an online, real-effort experiment, we randomly allocated subjects to treatments where they set either daily goals for how much to work over a one-week period or a single weekly goal. Consistent with the theoretical predictions, in the treatment with daily goals, the aggregate goal level for the week was higher and subjects provided more effort compared to the treatment with a weekly goal. The higher effort was driven by the higher aggregate goal level. Additional treatments complemented internal commitment through goals with an externally enforced minimum work requirement to get started working each day. Keywords: Self-control; Goals; Narrow bracketing; Commitment; Real effort; Online experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:185:y:2020:i:c:s0022053119301000 DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2019.104949 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Economic Theory is currently edited by A. Lizzeri and K. Shell More articles in Journal of Economic Theory from Elsevier |
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