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Small Rewards Or Some Encouragement? Using An Experiment In China To Test Extrinsic Motivation On Academic Performance

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  • ROLAND CHEO

    (The Center for Economic Research, Shandong University, 27 Shanda Nanlu, Jinan 250100, China)

Abstract

Extrinsic motivation can play a healthy role in influencing student performance, however, in the developing world without outside intervention, the provider of such extrinsic motivation is usually one with limited means, such as the village school teacher, or a parent struggling to make ends meet. Hence, this paper asks the question: Can limited extrinsic motivation affect academic performance? In particular, we look at two types of extrinsic motivation: small rewards and some encouragement and examine which does a better job to motivate students. We find in this study that the promise of a reward leads to improvement in scores during the treatment period, however, encouragement improves student performance in the post-treatment period (during the national primary school leaving examination).

Suggested Citation

  • Roland Cheo, 2017. "Small Rewards Or Some Encouragement? Using An Experiment In China To Test Extrinsic Motivation On Academic Performance," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 62(04), pages 797-808, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:serxxx:v:62:y:2017:i:04:n:s0217590817400276
    DOI: 10.1142/S0217590817400276
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Frey, Bruno S, 1997. "A Constitution for Knaves Crowds Out Civic Virtues," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(443), pages 1043-1053, July.
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