When Do People Prefer Carrots to Sticks? A Robust Matching Effect in Policy Evaluation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Evers, Ellen R. K.; Inbar, Yoel; Blanken, Irene; Oosterwijk, Linda D.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of Toronto; Tilburg University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2016.2539
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 4261-4276
• 关键词: policies; framing; punishing and rewarding; JUSTICE; moral decision making

摘要

For a policy to succeed, it must not only be effective in changing behavior but must also be accepted by stakeholders. Here, we report seven sets of studies demonstrating strong framing effects on the acceptance of equivalent policies. Policies targeting desirable voluntary behavior are preferred when they are framed as advantaging those who act desirably (rather than disadvantaging those who do not). Conversely, policies targeting obligations are preferred when they are framed as disadvantaging those who fail to act desirably (rather than advantaging those who do). These differences in policy acceptance do not result from common causes of framing effects, such as a misunderstanding of outcomes or insufficient deliberation about the implications. Rather, the framing effects we document follow from beliefs about when punishment is and is not appropriate. We conclude with a field experiment demonstrating framing effects in a setting where policy acceptance directly affects respondents' outcomes.