With rapidly increasing healthcare costs, both governments and firms are paying more attention to cultivating healthy lifestyles among consumers to reduce medical and financial burdens. However, consumers often struggle to fulfill their commitments to health-related goals, such as consistently going to the gym. This research examines the effects of financial and non-financial incentives on consumers’ gym-going behaviors. We conduct randomized field experiments at the campus recreation center at one of the largest U.S. public universities. Specifically, we provide a set of financial and non-financial incentives to the members of the center and track their progress during and after the incentive period. Our results show that those offered a financial incentive (FI) or a combination of financial and non-financial incentives (non-FI) complete their target number of workouts by 80% more relative to those who are not offered any incentives. The effects of FIs show little persistence once the incentive period ends but appear more persistent when combined with non-FIs. The effects are heterogeneous across individuals based on weight loss goals and past membership status. Participants who are trying to lose weight respond better to combined incentives, while those who are not trying to lose weight respond well to the FIs alone. The incentives are also more effective for existing members rather than new members. Our research has implications for firms, health and fitness practitioners, policymakers, and researchers for designing effective incentive programs and improving overall consumer health and wellbeing.

While it is well established that a prison incarceration often causes a life-long stigma, there is only a limited understanding of how the prison inmates anticipate such mistreatment. In Study 1, we investigate the beliefs of Czech inmates (N=297) about trust and altruism by the general public to them while varying if their prison identity is revealed, using an incentivized lab-in-the-field experiment. We find strong evidence of optimism bias in anticipated altruism. Furthermore, we examine the causal impact of a self-affirmation intervention but find no significant effects on any of the outcomes. In Study 2 (N=489), we conceptually replicate the optimism bias in altruism and identify the likely underlying mechanism to be the perception that the public sympathizes with their experiences of prison hardships and the ambiguity about the crime they committed. The overoptimism dissipates in a more dynamic setting when directly questioned. Our findings underscore the importance of addressing optimism bias in stigma expectations to improve the effectiveness of reintegration programs for inmates.

This study examines gender bias in performance evaluations made by male leaders during an incentivized, team-based simulated task. Using a correspondence-style experimental design with three treatment arms that vary in performance ambiguity and the cost of biased decision-making, I find that under ambiguous conditions (\textit{No Information} treatment), male leaders are 33–40.5% more likely to replace perceived female team members. Increasing performance transparency Information treatment) mitigates statistical discrimination based on group attributes; however, replaced female team members still face 16.8-21% stricter performance thresholds, reinforcing glass ceiling effects. A novel incentive-based intervention (Reward treatment) provides suggestive evidence that increasing the cost of biased decisions can reduce taste-based discrimination. These findings highlight the theoretical interplay between statistical and taste-based bias in organizational performance evaluations and offers an innovative and practical incentive-driven approach to promoting fairness without imposing explicit diversity mandates.