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

Abstract

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

Improving preventive health behaviors in the COVID-19 crisis: a messaging intervention in a large nationally representative sample

“…Changes in intentions, however, did not translate into meaningful changes in actual actions. This is consistent with the existence of important intention-to-action gaps (37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42).…”

Free-baiting: policy applications for freeness removal and the zero price effect

“…Interventions that promote making simple plans have substantially increased subjects' goal completion rates in many domains (Hagger & Luszczynska, 2014). These include voting (Nickerson & Rogers, 2010), preventative medical screenings (Milkman et al, 2013), applying for jobs (Abel et al, 2019) and smoking (Armitage & Arden, 2008;Conner & Higgins, 2010). Policymakers could encourage commuters to make a plan for achieving their goals and provide tools to help them, such as providing an app that helps facilitate carpooling, discounted public transit fairs or expanded public transit service.…”

Reducing search barriers for jobseekers

“…Linking job search activities to unemployment insurance for adults increased the number of employers that jobseekers contacted and the time they spent searching for jobs in the United States [10], and increased employment rates in Denmark [5]. Encouraging youth to create a plan for their job search in South Africa (in addition to a basic career-counseling workshop) increased job offers by 30 percent and employment by 26 percent, in part by helping youth engage in more intense search activities [11].…”

“…The program in South Africa likely helped jobseekers diversify which channels they used to search for positions [11]. An online job platform in Scotland that showed nearby job openings in alternative careers broadened the types of jobs that jobseekers considered and increased the number of interviews that they were offered [12].…”