Abstract
We conduct a field experiment to test the non-monotonic effect of deadline length on task completion. Participants are invited to complete an online survey in which a donation goes to charity. They are given either 1 week, 1 month, or no deadline to respond. Responses are lowest for the 1-month deadline and highest when no deadline is specified. No deadline and the 1-week deadline feature a large number of early responses, while providing a 1-month deadline appears to give people permission to procrastinate. If they are inattentive, they might forget to complete the task.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 706-720 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Economic Inquiry |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 2 Nov 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2022 |
Keywords
- charitable giving
- charitable tasks
- deadlines
- field experiment
- forgetting
- inattention
- procrastination
- task completion