【 The Digital Star Seminar Series No.20 】How to Remind People to Work Out via Feedback: Evidence from a Field Experiment

Date: 27 May 2022 (Fri) 
Time: 3:00pm - 4:30pm (Hong Kong Time, UTC+8)
Platform: Tencent Meeting (ID 357-348-342)

Host: Prof. Miaojun Wang (School of Economics, Zhejiang University)

Presenter: Prof. Lingfang Li (Fudan University)

Abstract：

Physical activity is a very important aspect of individuals’ quality of life. Health and behavioral studies have long sought to induce people to work out and form a habit to exercise. In this study, we design and conduct an 8-week longitudinal field experiment on an ex post feedback mechanism to motivate people to exercise. We designed feedback messages in two dimensions. One dimension varied the feedback messages according to whether they attributed the performance to participants’ own efforts (i.e., effort attribution treatment), and the other dimension adopted either an “I message” or “You message” to examine whether the deictic relational framing of the feedback matters (i.e., deictic relational framing treatment). The experiment used an exercising recording applet embedded in WeChat. We find that in the short term, the “You message + effort emphasized” message performed the best. As for the overall effect when feedback is provided, participants in the “I message” and “You message + effort emphasized” treatment groups achieved their weekly exercise goals in about one more week than participants in the control group. But when feedback is no longer provided, the influence of both treatment groups failed to endure; the influence of the “You message + effort emphasized” treatment even reversed. We also find that the effect of feedback is stronger among participants whose subjective ability of self-control and intrinsic motivation to work out are low.

Intro to the Presenter:

Lingfang Li is a doctor of economics from the University of California Irvine, a professor in the Department of industrial economics at the school of management of Fudan University, and the director of the research group of digital economy and industrial development of Fudan Development Research Institute. Her research focuses on digital economy, behavioral economy and finance. She has published many international top anonymous review academic journal papers, and has won the China Digital Trade Research Award and other awards. She is now associate editor of Decision Support Systems.

Organization：

- The Chinese University of Hong Kong-Zhejiang University Joint Research Center for Digital Economy

- China Digital Economy Research Center of School of Economics, Zhejiang University

- Zhejiang University Digital Economy Innovation Research Team

Intro to The Digital Star Seminar Series：

The Digital Star Seminar Series is co-hosted by the China Digital Economy Research Center of School of Economics, Zhejiang University, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong-Zhejiang University Joint Research Center for Digital Economy. This series of seminars will study the development of the digital economy and China's economic transformation based on the practice of China's digital transformation. We will invite domestic and overseas scholars to share and discuss the latest research on the digital economy and the Chinese economy. We hope that this academic platform can become a paradise for the study of the digital economy. More importantly, it can generate insights that significantly impact the digital economy and Chinese economy, which will help promote digital transformation and high-quality economic development in Chinese society.