The entrenchment effect: Why people persist with less-preferred behaviors

Alicea Lieberman, On Amir and Ziv Carmon

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2023, vol. 178, issue C

Abstract: This research examines a perplexing but all too common phenomenon in which people actively forego nearly costless opportunities to switch from less-preferred tasks to preferred alternatives. The authors investigate such failures to change and identify a novel underlying cause—entrenchment, a state of heightened tedious task-set accessibility. A series of experiments demonstrate that a significant subset of participants choose to continue a less-preferred task when given an opportunity to change to a preferred alternative (Studies 1-4a). The more participants repeat a less-preferred task, the more difficult constructing a new task set feels, increasing the proportion who do not switch to their preferred task (Studies 2a-2b). Finally, disrupting task continuity attenuates entrenchment and increases switching (Studies 3-4b). This research contributes to the understanding of why people get stuck in ruts, continuing less-preferred activities when they could easily switch to better alternatives, and provides insights to help manage behavior change.

Keywords: Behavior change; Immersion; Entrenchment; Decision making (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:178:y:2023:i:c:s0749597823000535

DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2023.104277

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