RECIPROCITY OR SELF-INTEREST? LEVERAGING DIGITAL SOCIAL CONNECTIONS FOR HEALTHY BEHAVIOR

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Liu, Che-Wei; Gao, Guodong (Gordon); Agarwal, Ritu
• 署名单位: Indiana University System; Indiana University Bloomington; IU Kelley School of Business; University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park
• 刊物名称: MIS QUARTERLY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0276-7783
• DOI: 10.25300/MISQ/2022/16177
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 261-298
• 关键词: gift exchange; financial incentives; physical-activity; wellness programs; INTERACTION TERMS; KNOWLEDGE; networks; weight; work; motivation

摘要

In this paper, we examine the role of reciprocity enabled by digital social platforms for offline healthy behavior. Although reciprocity is a fundamental aspect of human psychology, its application in promoting healthy behavior has been limited. We conduct arandomized field experiment withover 1,700 pairs of usersonamobile socialnetwork platform. Individuals in the reciprocity treatmentgroup receive agift from theirfriends andare askedtoreturnthis favor by participating inarunningchallenge. Their performance iscomparedtothe self-interest incentives widely usedinpractice. Buildingonsocial exchange theory, we arguethatreciprocity-basedincentives will outperform self-interest incentives withmodest rewardformotivatingbehavior change. We findthat, onaverage, reciprocity is stronger thanself-interest ininducingexercisebehavior by asubstantialamount. Furthermore, ourresults reveal thatthe magnitude of the reciprocity effectis contingentonthe social closeness betweensenders andreceivers. Interestingly, social closeness has aninvertedU-shapedinfluence onthe reciprocity effect. The effect is strongest whencloseness is moderate, andwanes whenclosenessiseither toostrongortooweak. Comparedtocommonly used self-interest based financial incentives, our findings offer a potentially more powerful avenue for mechanism design in promoting healthy behavior