Open AccessSocial norms don’t always work: An experiment to encourage more efficient fees collection for students
Author(s) -
Antônio Augusto Moura da Silva,
Peter John
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0177354
Subject(s) - payment , psychological intervention , intervention (counseling) , psychology , work (physics) , social psychology , medical education , applied psychology , medicine , business , nursing , finance , mechanical engineering , engineering
The use of social norms has become the tool of choice for behaviourally informed interventions. However, it is still not clear for what type of contexts and populations is this intervention effective. This randomised controlled trial with 4298 students tests the applicability of social norms to improve the late payment of university tuition fees. We find that providing information to late payers does not increase their likelihood of paying. This finding highlights how the use of social norms may not always be an effective tool in influencing behaviour.