Bridging the Intention-Behavior Gap? The Effect of Plan-Making Prompts on Job Search and Employment

Abel, Martin; Burger, Rulof; Carranza, Eliana; Piraino, Patrizio

doi:10.1257/app.20170566

Cited by 24 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…In Ghana, Hardy and McCasland (2017) provide evidence that entry fees for apprentices create labor constraints for small firms. In South Africa, Abel et al (2017) show that jobseekers apply to fewer jobs per week than they would like to. A psychological intervention is only able to reduce this intentionbehaviour gap by a small amount, suggesting that other constraints such as credit constraints may be responsible for jobseekers' failure to meet their job application targets.…”

Section: Vib External Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Selection of Talent: Experimental and Structural Evidence from Ethiopia

Abebe¹,

Caria

Ortiz-Ospina

2021

American Economic Review

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We study how search frictions in the labor market affect firms’ ability to recruit talented workers. In a field experiment in Ethiopia, we show that an employer can attract more talented applicants by offering a small monetary incentive for making a job application. Estimates from a structural model suggest that the intervention is effective because the cost of making a job application is large, and positively correlated with jobseeker ability. We provide evidence that this positive correlation is driven by dynamic selection. In a second experiment, we show that local recruiters underestimate the positive impacts of application incentives. (JEL J23, J24, J31, J64, O15)

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Section: Vib External Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Selection of Talent: Experimental and Structural Evidence from Ethiopia

Abebe¹,

Caria

Ortiz-Ospina

2021

American Economic Review

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“…Our emphasis is on metacognitive prompts because limited evidence suggests that “forgetting” to search for a job is a pivotal cause that hinders a job search. Further, there is scant support that interventions aimed at mitigating forgetfulness can improve the job search process (e.g., Abel, Burger, Carranza, & Piraino, 2017). In contrast, a job search is a self‐directed, goal‐driven process, and metacognitive prompts have the potential to stimulate the metacognitive processes that underlie job search effort.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prompting Metacognition During a Job Search: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial with University Job Seekers

Kanar

Bouckenooghe

2020

Applied Psychology

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Searching for a job is a self‐directed activity that requires self‐regulation over significant periods of time; yet, in the scientific community, we know little about proximal support interventions that shape the self‐regulation processes during a job search. Using an experimental design, we tested a proximal support intervention in the form of metacognitive prompts and how this shaped metacognition and effort in 123 university job seekers over a period of 9 weeks. Job seekers who were exposed to the intervention reported higher levels of metacognition, effort, and a greater number of job interviews compared to job seekers in a control condition. Additionally, the present study revealed that the prompting intervention, compared to the active control condition, resulted in higher levels of metacognition for job seekers who were less committed to finding a job than for job seekers who were more committed to finding a job. In summary, the current study makes important contributions to the job search literature and practice by fine‐tuning our understanding of the interventions that may support metacognition during the job search process and the individuals for whom these interventions may be most effective.

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“… 11 The Intention-Behavior Gap has been reported in other topics, including commuter behavior and job search behavior (Abel et al, 2019 ; Kristal & Whillans, 2020 ). …”

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confidence: 98%

Effective but fragile? Responses to repeated nudge-based messages for preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection

Sasaki

Kurokawa

Ohtake

2021

JER

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Nudge-based messages have been employed in various countries to encourage voluntary contact-avoidance and infection-prevention behaviors to control the spread of COVID-19. People have been repeatedly exposed to such messages; however, whether the messages keep exerting a significant impact over time remains unclear. From April to August 2020, we conducted a four-wave online survey experiment to examine how five types of nudge-based messages influence Japanese people’s self-reported preventive behaviors. In particular, we investigate how their behaviors are affected by repeated displays over time. The analysis with 4241 participants finds that only a gain-framed altruistic message, emphasizing their behavioral adherence would protect the lives of people close to them, reduces their frequency of going out and contacting others. We do not find similar behavioral changes in messages that contain an altruistic element but emphasize it in a loss-frame or describe their behavioral adherence as protecting both one’s own and others’ lives. Furthermore, the behavioral change effect of the gain-framed altruistic message disappears in the third and fourth waves, although its impact of reinforcing intentions remains. This message has even an adverse effect of worsening the compliance level of infection-prevention behaviors for the subgroup who went out less frequently before the experiment. The study’s results imply that when using nudge-based messages as a countermeasure for COVID-19, policymakers and practitioners need to carefully scrutinize the message elements and wording and examine to whom and how the messages should be delivered while considering their potential adverse and side effects.

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Bridging the Intention-Behavior Gap? The Effect of Plan-Making Prompts on Job Search and Employment

Cited by 24 publications

References 36 publications

The Selection of Talent: Experimental and Structural Evidence from Ethiopia

The Selection of Talent: Experimental and Structural Evidence from Ethiopia

Prompting Metacognition During a Job Search: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial with University Job Seekers

Effective but fragile? Responses to repeated nudge-based messages for preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection

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