The Endowed Progress Effect: How Artificial Advancement Increases Effort

This research documents a phenomenon we call theendowed progress effect, whereby people provided with artificial advancement toward a goal exhibit greater persistence toward reaching the goal. By converting a task requiring eight steps into a task requiring 10 steps but with two steps already comple...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of consumer research 2006-03, Vol.32 (4), p.504-512
Main Authors: Nunes, Joseph C., Drèze, Xavier
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bottles
Business orders
Consumer behavior
Customers
Endowments
Goal setting
Hypotheses
Motivation
Motivation research
Perceptions
Progress
Purchasing
Statistical significance
Studies
Sunk costs
Vigilance
Wine bottles
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Summary:This research documents a phenomenon we call theendowed progress effect, whereby people provided with artificial advancement toward a goal exhibit greater persistence toward reaching the goal. By converting a task requiring eight steps into a task requiring 10 steps but with two steps already complete, the task is reframed as one that has been undertaken and incomplete rather than not yet begun. This increases the likelihood of task completion and decreases completion time. The effect appears to depend on perceptions of task completion rather than a desire to avoid wasting the endowed progress. Moderators include the reason, if any, offered for the endowment and the currency in which progress is recorded.
ISSN:0093-5301
1537-5277
DOI:10.1086/500480