The Science Behind Incentives: What's in it for Me? March 19, 2009 A behavioral scientist gives insight on why rewards work
By Josh Klapow, Ph D.
Most incentive programs are designed to produce behavior change. They are put in place to entice, encourage or motivate an individual to act in a certain manner. But what is it that drives the success of an incentive program? What actually makes it work? Behavioral science can offer the answers to these questions.
There are several key factors that determine the success of an incentive program. These include the following:
1. The temporal relationship between the desired action and the delivery of the incentive 2. The burden on the individual to complete the desired behavior 3. The frequency of the delivery of the incentive 4. Competing environmental incentives to not complete the desired behavior
But in the end, there is one absolutely essential element to any successful incentive program: The incentive itself.
The Motivation in Meaning
Incentives or rewards are the most critical component of any incentive program, yet they are often given the least amount of thought or dedicated resources. From a behavioral science perspective, if the individual does not perceive the incentives as meaningful, the behavior will not change. This notion is the underlying concept in positive reinforcement, drawn from operant conditioning. Positive reinforcement can be understood as an action of providing a reward following a desired behavior in order to increase the likelihood of that behavior occurring again. It is steeped in decades of scientific evidence and yet it poses a significant challenge to the design of many incentive programs.
The ultimate challenge for any incentive program is determining what will be perceived as a meaningful reward for the largest number of people. This is a tremendous undertaking, in that figuring out what is rewarding to any given individual at any given point in time is nearly impossible. Humans are dynamic; their needs, desires, wishes and circumstances change year to year, month to month, even week to week. What is meaningful to me today may not be meaningful to you today, but it might be tomorrow.
This level of complexity would lead one to give up on trying to figure out meaningful rewards, and many organizations do. The alternative that many organizations take is to give out "tokens" of appreciation. Small prizes (t-shirts, water bottles etc.) for complex, involved behaviors. The idea is that the act of giving a prize, giving recognition is meaningful. For many, many individuals the effort expended to earn that incentive, far outweighs the perceived value of a gift card or water bottle.
Variety in Rewards
Any successful incentive program must be designed in such a way that the reward is meaningful to the greatest number of people. To achieve this, many incentive programs allow each individual to determine their own reward. Point-based programs allow individuals to redeem for a wide variety of prizes. Conceptually, the greater the number of options for rewards, the more likely the program is to have an impact. If an individual chooses their own "reinforcer" then by definition the incentive is meaningful.
Point-based incentive programs may not be the ultimate answer for every organization, but the take-home reminder from behavioral science is that an incentive program's success or failure lies in large part in the degree to which the rewards or incentives are meaningful. In the end, if an individual isn’t able to see "What's in it for me?" the incentive will have no impact and behavior will not change.
Joshua Klapow, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health. He is also the author of Living SMART: 5 Essential Skills to Change Your Health Habits Forever. For questions or comments visit www.drjoshk.com or e-mail him at jklapow@uab.edu.
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