Incentives for learning: How free offers help or hinder motivation

Abstract

This research examines how incentives for learning can be designed to promote lasting learning motivation. The authors examined this research question in the context of continuing education, in which adult learners were given the opportunity to take educational courses for free. The authors contrasted two approaches commonly used when offering free courses—a tuition waiver versus a tuition refund. Although both arrangements were priced at zero, refunds outperformed waivers in promoting long-term learning, due to the monetary cost incurred in the former instance (even if it was refundable).In the first study, an e-learning activity was offered to the participants for free; those who were offered a fee refund (vs. waiver) were less likely to drop out, spent more time reading the learning materials, and were more likely to return to the learning activity during the post-experimental phase. Two further studies showed that when the participants evaluated an incentivized learning opportunity, the waiver drew more attention to the incentive and reduced attention to the learning benefits, but the refund preserved the latter considerations. The last study demonstrated the possibility of directing attention to the learning benefits by introducing a non-monetary cost into the signup procedure for a free course. These findings are consistent with the mental accounting explanation, which suggests that people are motivated to track and seek out learning benefits after they have incurred a cost.