Robbie Maris

Robbie Maris

He/Him

Economics of Education PhD Student

Working papers

The Impact of Commitments on Longitudinal Survey Attrition

Attrition is a pervasive problem in longitudinal research. While attrition often stems from commonly reported-on demographic characteristics, attrition can also be influenced by study design features that invoke behavioural responses in participants. One study feature that could impact attrition is the use of commitments (asking respondents to commit to a behaviour). In this paper, for the first time, we explore the impacts of using commitments on attrition in a field experiment. We ask survey respondents whether they would like to precommit to attending a nature restoration volunteering event. Surprisingly, we find that the attrition rate is 16 percentage points worse for those who pre-committed to an event. Using linear probability models, we explore this finding and theorise that ingenuine commitments provoke feelings of guilt and respondents actively avoid these feelings by dropping out. These results have important implications, especially if feelings of guilt drive longer-termd isengagement with policy and research.

Recommended citation: R Maris. (2024). "The Impact of Commitments on Longitudinal Survey Attrition. " R&R.

Environmental Identity in Economics and Policymaking

Published:

Review paper on environmental identity in economics and policymaking.

Recommended citation: Z Dorner, R Maris & F Carlsson. (2024). "Environmental Identity in Economics and Policymaking. " Under Review at REEP.

Social Media and the Evolution of Vaccine Preferences During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Published:

Both vaccine information and misinformation is spread through social media, in ways that may vary by platform. We utilise a balanced panel dataset of 257 respondents stated Covid-19 vaccine preferences to test whether social media use is associated with changes in likely vaccine uptake, and whether trust in sources of information has a moderating role. We surveyed New Zealanders online in August 2020, October/November 2020 and March/April 2021, while vaccines were being developed, approved by regulators and initially rolled out. For each survey wave, based on their choices between hypothetical vaccine options, we classify respondents as resistant (never chose a vaccine), hesitant (chose a vaccine between one and five times) and pro-vaccine (chose a vaccine six out of six times). To analyse this novel application of stated choice data, we use a set of Logit models to analyse transitions between categories between waves at the individual level, as well as a pooled partial proportional odds model to analyse the data in panel form. We find a positive or neutral association between social media use and vaccine uptake. In our transition modelling, we see some evidence that Facebook, Twitter and Tiktok users who are pro, are less likely to become hesitant or resistant. Facebook and Instagram users who are hesitant are more likely to become pro. Additionally, some social media platforms may have a more positive effect on vaccine uptake preferences for those who do not trust the government. In interpreting our results, we note an overall high level of pro-vaccine orientation in New Zealand over the time period of the study. The paper contributes to the wider evidence in the literature, which shows social media can be associated with reinforcing both pro- and anti-vaccination sentiment, with the former being the main effect in this particular context and time period.

Recommended citation: R Maris, Z Dorner, S Hess & S Tucker. (2024). "Social Media and the Evolution of Vaccine Preferences During the Covid-19 Pandemic. " Under Review.
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Nudges and Monetary Incentives: A Green Partnership?

Published:

Shifting individual behaviour is an important tool for addressing environmental issues and there is a wide literature evaluating interventions to encourage pro-environmental behaviour. One important but under-researched area is the effect of combining interventions to affect behaviour. In this paper, we evaluate the effects of two interventions (monetary incentives and nudges) on nature restoration volunteering. We use a two-by-two treatment design to evaluate the individual and combined effects of the interventions in a field experiment setting. We find that the monetary incentive significantly increases volunteering behaviour, despite concerns incentives may crowd out motivation, but that nudging alone is ineffective at shifting behaviour. However, there are considerable positive synergies between the monetary incentive and nudge. The monetary incentive becomes more than twice as effective when it is combined with a nudge. We find support for our theoretical prediction that this synergy arises because the nudge reduces motivational crowding out effects from the incentive. Our results have important policy implications, showing that concerns around motivation crowding out from monetary incentives could be mitigated by simple, low-cost nudges.

Recommended citation: R Maris, Z Dorner and F Carlsson. (2023). "Nudges and Monetary Incentives: A Green Partnership?" Working Papers in Economics, University of Gothenburg. 842.
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