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Effects of perceived productivity on study effort: Evidence from a field experiment

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  • Ersoy, Fulya

Abstract

How does the perceived relationship between effort and achievement affect effort? To answer this question, I conduct a framed field experiment with a popular online learning platform. I exogenously manipulate students’ beliefs about returns to effort by assigning them to a control group or to treatments which provide information about returns to effort. Students update their beliefs towards the information and change their study effort in the same direction with the shifts in their beliefs. This result shows that low-cost information interventions can influence students’ beliefs about returns to effort and these beliefs are important components of their effort choices.

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  • Ersoy, Fulya, 2023. "Effects of perceived productivity on study effort: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 376-391.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:207:y:2023:i:c:p:376-391
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.01.021
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    Cited by:

    1. Yuta Kuroda, 2023. "What do high-achieving graduates bring to nonacademic track high schools?," DSSR Discussion Papers 138, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tohoku University.
    2. Akcay, Erol & Ohashi, Ryotaro, 2023. "The floating duck syndrome: biased social learning leads to effort-reward imbalances," SocArXiv qx7ku, Center for Open Science.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Effort; Beliefs; Returns to effort; Field experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments

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