If You are Going to Pay within the Next 24 Hours, Press 1: Automatic Planning Prompt Reduces Credit Card Delinquency

Journal of Consumer Psychology, Forthcoming

41 Pages Posted: 19 Jan 2018

See all articles by Nina Mazar

Nina Mazar

Boston University - Questrom School of Business

Daniel Mochon

Tulane University - A.B. Freeman School of Business

Dan Ariely

Duke University - Fuqua School of Business

Date Written: January 12, 2018

Abstract

People often form intentions but fail to follow through on them. Mounting evidence suggests that such intention-action gaps can be narrowed with prompts to make concrete plans about when, where and how to act to achieve the intention. In this paper we pushed the notion of plan-concreteness to test the efficacy of a prompt under a minimalist automated calling setting, where respondents were only prompted to indicate a narrower duration within which they intent to act. In a field experiment this planning prompt significantly helped people to pay their past dues and get out of debt delinquency. These results suggest that minimalist automatic planning prompts are a scalable, cost-effective intervention.

Keywords: Implementation intentions, commitment, goals, financial decision making, RCT

Suggested Citation

Mazar, Nina and Mochon, Daniel and Ariely, Dan, If You are Going to Pay within the Next 24 Hours, Press 1: Automatic Planning Prompt Reduces Credit Card Delinquency (January 12, 2018). Journal of Consumer Psychology, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3101165

Nina Mazar (Contact Author)

Boston University - Questrom School of Business ( email )

595 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA MA 02215
United States

Daniel Mochon

Tulane University - A.B. Freeman School of Business ( email )

7 McAlister Drive
New Orleans, LA 70118
United States

Dan Ariely

Duke University - Fuqua School of Business ( email )

Box 90120
Durham, NC 27708-0120
United States
(919) 381-4366 (Phone)

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