America
Uncertain rewards drive people to work harder
New York, March 5
More than certain rewards,
uncertainty motivates people to put in more efforts, new research has
found. These findings can help companies and public policy makers when
designing incentive systems.
"Introducing a bit of uncertainty
can help to motivate people and make the effort required to achieve a
reward seem more like a game and less like work," said the researchers.
"When
comparing the time, money, and effort people invest in order to qualify
for either a certain or an uncertain reward, we find that the uncertain
reward is more motivating than the certain reward," said Ayelet
Fishbach from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
In
one study, consumers were asked to drink a large amount of water within
two minutes. Some were told they would receive a guaranteed reward of
two dollars, while others were told they would receive either one or two
dollars (decided by a coin toss).
Even though the reward was
potentially lower, more consumers completed the task when the reward was
uncertain. In another study, consumers were asked to bid against each
other for a bag of chocolates.
Some were told there were four
chocolates in the box, while others were told there were either two or
four. Consumers bid higher when they did not know how many chocolates
were in the bag.
"The idea that uncertainty can increase motivation is counterintuitive, but its underlying mechanism is not," said the authors.
"Consider
the experience of slowly unwrapping a gift. Getting closer to finding
out what is in the box is exciting and this excitement motivates
action," they explained in the study that appeared in the Journal of
Consumer Research.