Soft commitment: a study on demand and compliance

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary statistics.

	N	Mean	SD		N	Mean	SD
Age in years	261	19.33	2.66	Extroversion/open	258	5.02	0.96
Gender (male)	262	0.48	0.50	Emotionally stable/conscientious	258	5.08	0.91
Parent with degree	251	0.67	0.47	Agreeableness	259	4.38	0.91
British	254	0.27	0.45	Low risk taker	262	0.04	0.19
European/American	254	0.40	0.49	Medium risk taker	262	0.64	0.48
Asian/African	254	0.33	0.47	High risk taker	262	0.32	0.47
Second Academic cohort	263	0.49	0.50	Impatience (dummy)	250	0.05	0.22
Expected hours	251	25.71	22.99	Previous grade	259	62.25	10.16
Relative confidence	262	1.15	0.19	Current grade	256	61.60	10.65
Commit	263	0.43	0.50	Early deadline	109	1.90	1.65

Figure 1. Self-chosen deadlines.

Table 2. Demand for soft commitment.

	Linear probability model			Probit (marginal effects)
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
Gender	−0.022	−0.009	−0.011	−0.012	0.003	0.003
	(0.065)	(0.069)	(0.071)	(0.071)	(0.074)	(0.075)
Parents with degree	0.019	0.003	−0.020	0.017	−0.001	−0.030
	(0.069)	(0.074)	(0.076)	(0.075)	(0.080)	(0.099)
Previous grade	−0.002	−0.003	−0.003	−0.002	−0.004	−0.004
	(0.003)	(0.003)	(0.003)	(0.004)	(0.004)	(0.008)
Expected hours	0.004^***	0.004^***	0.005^***	0.005^***	0.005^***	0.005
	(0.001)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.010)
Confidence	−0.495^***	−0.506^***	−0.477^**	−0.596^***	−0.615^***	−0.595
	(0.180)	(0.184)	(0.187)	(0.215)	(0.222)	(1.160)
Extroversion/open		0.001	0.001		−0.004	−0.003
		(0.036)	(0.038)		(0.040)	(0.040)
Emotionally stable/conscientious		0.028	0.020		0.030	0.021
		(0.037)	(0.039)		(0.041)	(0.058)
Agreeableness		0.003	−0.000		0.005	−0.004
		(0.038)	(0.038)		(0.041)	(0.042)
Medium risk taker			0.390^**			1.919
			(0.174)			(48.031)
High risk taker			0.398^**			1.924
			(0.181)			(48.023)
Impatience (dummy)			0.214			0.241
			(0.165)			(0.493)
Other demographics and cohort	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
N	231	220	211	231	220	211

Notes: SEs in parentheses.

*p < 0.10, ^**p < 0.05 and ^***p < 0.01.

Table 3. Failure to comply with the chosen deadline.

	Linear probability model			Probit (marginal effects)
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
Gender	0.060	0.064	0.089^*	0.059	0.061	0.079
	(0.049)	(0.050)	(0.053)	(0.048)	(0.047)	(0.048)
Parents with degree	0.119^**	0.102^*	0.118^**	0.116^**	0.098^*	0.117^**
	(0.051)	(0.054)	(0.057)	(0.050)	(0.052)	(0.054)
Previous grade	−0.005^**	−0.005^**	−0.005^*	−0.006^**	−0.006^**	−0.006^**
	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.003)	(0.003)	(0.003)	(0.003)
Expected hours	0.001	−0.000	−0.000	0.001	−0.000	−0.000
	(0.001)	(0.001)	(0.001)	(0.001)	(0.001)	(0.001)
Confidence	0.054	0.112	0.087	0.110	0.146	0.127
	(0.137)	(0.136)	(0.141)	(0.132)	(0.127)	(0.134)
Extroversion/open		0.064^**	0.072^**		0.073^***	0.078^***
		(0.026)	(0.028)		(0.025)	(0.026)
Emotionally stable/conscientious		−0.059^**	−0.059^**		−0.068^**	−0.069^**
		(0.027)	(0.029)		(0.027)	(0.029)
Agreeableness		0.004	0.002		−0.006	−0.011
		(0.028)	(0.028)		(0.026)	(0.027)
Medium risk taker			−0.070			−0.058
			(0.131)			(0.132)
High risk taker			−0.126			−0.102
			(0.136)			(0.133)
Impatience (dummy)			0.044			0.036
			(0.123)			(0.109)
Other demographics and cohort	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
N	231	220	211	231	220	211

Notes: SEs in parentheses.

*p < 0.1, **p < 0.05 and ***p < 0.01.

Table 4. Failure to comply with the early, soft deadline.

	Linear probability model			Probit (marginal effects)
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
Gender	0.168^*	0.162^*	0.192^*	0.156^*	0.160^*	0.196^**
	(0.093)	(0.097)	(0.101)	(0.085)	(0.084)	(0.086)
Parent with degree	0.203^**	0.146	0.183	0.175^**	0.122	0.159^*
	(0.093)	(0.106)	(0.110)	(0.077)	(0.089)	(0.091)
Previous grade	−0.008^*	−0.007	−0.007	−0.017^***	−0.016^***	−0.015^***
	(0.004)	(0.004)	(0.004)	(0.005)	(0.005)	(0.005)
Expected hours	0.002	0.001	0.001	0.002	0.002	0.002
	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)	(0.002)
Confidence	−0.049	−0.025	−0.049	0.043	−0.039	−0.039
	(0.261)	(0.270)	(0.280)	(0.290)	(0.293)	(0.318)
Extroversion/open		0.088	0.093^*		0.094^**	0.100^**
		(0.053)	(0.055)		(0.044)	(0.046)
Emotionally stable/conscientious		−0.080	−0.059		−0.102^**	−0.088
		(0.057)	(0.061)		(0.050)	(0.053)
Agreeableness		−0.010	−0.020		−0.030	−0.041
		(0.055)	(0.057)		(0.050)	(0.051)
Medium willingness to take risk			0.053			0.074
			(0.106)			(0.097)
Impatience (dummy)			0.118			0.092
			(0.205)			(0.179)
Other demographics and cohort	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
N	96	92	89	96	92	89

Notes: SEs in parentheses.

*p < 0.1, ^**p < 0.05 and ^***p < 0.01.

Figure 2. Grade distribution for treated and untreated cohorts.

Figure 3. Grade distribution by commitment status.