Our problem: I serve on the executive board of my sorority. While there are many perks of a leadership position, it also can be very hard to be in charge of your peers. It uncomfortable to 'punish' those who do not abide by the rules when they are your age, in your classes, and your friends. Last week our executive board ran into a predicament on the basis of this contradiction. Our treasurer approached the board with a problem: many people were not paying their dues. Despite her efforts to send personalized emails, threats at chapter, and house wide financial updates - people just weren't paying! We didn't know what to do and the money needed to be in by the end of the week.
Our Solution: The executive board contemplated this issue for a long time, how could we get the girls to get the money in?! Finally we thought of it: A GAME! We decided to turn this process into a game. At chapter that night we announced it: Those who got their dues in the fastest would receive prizes accordingly. In addition, per day, as the number of paid members decreased, a new "round" would start and these individuals would compete in other ways. For example, the executive board would pick an arbitrary time, lets say 4:46, and whoever paid their dues closest to this time would be awarded a prize.
On of the principles that went into our decision making to make this a game was the N-effect. The N-effect states that as the number of competitive participants increases, the competitive behavior decreases on the basis that social comparison decreases. We used this effect inversely. As the number of girls who needed to pay their dues decreases, the more intense the competition between them to win their prizes increased. This game solution worked. In just three days the percent of girls who paid their dues jumped from 65% to 93%. It was a great success!
That's fantastic that you were able to apply the N-Effect to a real-life scenario. Was this your idea or that of someone else on the executive board? I feel that the other 7% who still haven't paid their dues probably will very soon because the competition will be much more intense especially since N decreased by such a significant number. However, did you hear feedback from your sorority members that this reward system that was implemented worked? A confounding factor in this experiment could simply have been that the members didn't want to pay any late fees, and so with the due date approaching quickly they decided to pay. Just out of curiosity, what types of prizes were awarded?
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