MANAGEMENT SCIENCE Articles in Advance, pp. 1–17 ISSN 0025-1909 (print) ISSN 1526-5501 (online) http: / / dx.doi.org / 10.1287 / mnsc.2013.1784 ! © 2013 I N F ORMS H olding the H unger Games H ostage at the G ym: A n Evaluation of Temptation Bundling Katherine L. Milkman The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104,
[email protected] Julia A. Minson The H arvard Kennedy School, H arvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138,
[email protected] Kevin G. M. Volpp The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104,
[email protected] e introduce and evaluate the effectiveness of temptation bundling—a method for simultaneously tack- W ling two types of self-control problems by harnessing consumption complementarities. We describe a field experiment measuring the impact of bundling instantly gratifying but guilt-inducing “ want” experiences (enjoying page-turner audiobooks) with valuable “should” behaviors providing delayed rewards (exercising). We explore whether such bundles increase should behaviors and whether people would pay to create these restrictive bundles. Participants were randomly assigned to a full treatment condition with gym-only access to tempting audio novels, an intermediate treatment involving encouragement to restrict audiobook enjoyment to the gym, or a control condition. Initially, full and intermediate treatment participants visited the gym 51% and 29% more frequently, respectively, than control participants, but treatment effects declined over time (particu- larly following Thanksgiving). A fter the study, 61% of participants opted to pay to have gym-only access to iPods containing tempting audiobooks, suggesting demand for this commitment device. Key words: commitment devices; temptation bundling; self-control; field experiment; exercise History: Received N ovember 26, 2012; accepted May 21, 2013, Uri Gneezy, behavioral economics.