”Thanks in Advance”: The Negative Effect of a Polite Phrase on Compliance with a Request

Lisa Bruttel, Juri Nithammer () and Florian Stolley ()
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Juri Nithammer: University of Potsdam

No 7, CEPA Discussion Papers from Center for Economic Policy Analysis

Abstract: This paper studies the effect of the commonly used phrase “thanks in advance” on compliance with a small request. In a controlled laboratory experiment we ask participants to give a detailed answer to an open question. The treatment variable is whether or not they see the phrase “thanks in advance.” Our participants react to the treatment by exerting less effort in answering the request even though they perceive the phrase as polite.

Keywords: labor compliance behavior; gratitude; reciprocity; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D64 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-bec, nep-cbe, nep-exp and nep-ore
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https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-42770 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: “Thanks in advance” – The negative effect of a polite phrase on compliance with a request (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pot:cepadp:07

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