Impatience for Information: Curiosity Is Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

43 Pages Posted: 8 Jul 2021

See all articles by Andras Molnar

Andras Molnar

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business

Russell Golman

Carnegie Mellon University - Department of Social and Decision Sciences

Date Written: July 2, 2021

Abstract

Organizations strive to encourage curiosity, seeking employees who are open to asking questions and intrinsically motivated to find answers, i.e., who display curiosity traits. We argue that situational determinants are stronger predictors of information-seeking behaviors than traits. Situational curiosity is transient, and while people may be tempted by immediate answers, they may be less motivated when they need to wait for information. In a preregistered experiment (N = 1,245) featuring real effort and incentives, we find that a small change in the schedule of information provision—delaying performance feedback by 24–48 hours—reduces participants’ willingness to obtain this information by 24%. The effect of this short delay is at least three times stronger than a one-standard-deviation difference in trait openness. This reduction cannot be explained by standard models of time discounting or the goal gradient hypothesis, as an identical delay in monetary rewards reduces participants’ efforts by only 3%.

Keywords: curiosity, effort, information gap, performance feedback, time discounting

JEL Classification: D81, D83

Suggested Citation

Molnar, Andras and Golman, Russell, Impatience for Information: Curiosity Is Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (July 2, 2021). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3879168 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3879168

Andras Molnar (Contact Author)

University of Chicago - Booth School of Business ( email )

5807 S Woodlawn Ave
Chicago, IL 60637
United States

Russell Golman

Carnegie Mellon University - Department of Social and Decision Sciences ( email )

Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
United States

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