Goal-gradient point rewards can increase consumers' willingness to purchase poverty-alleviating products

Abstract

One of the ways to solve the world's poverty problem is by effectively marketing poverty-alleviating products. Some studies show that point rewards can increase consumer willingness to purchase products. In this paper, three types of rewards are designed: tournament point rewards, piece-rate point rewards, and goal-gradient point rewards. Based on the goal-gradient effect, warm glow effect, the psychological reactance theory, and the literature, hypotheses are proposed based on the results of mathematical modeling. Experiments 1 and 2 show that the goal-gradient point rewards and piece-rate point rewards methods can motivate consumers to purchase poverty-alleviating products. Experiments 3 and 4 results indicate that the combination of goal-gradient point rewards for small cash and goal-gradient point rewards for honorary certificates is the best incentive. We therefore suggest that poverty-alleviating product companies use goal-gradient point rewards for small cash and gradient point rewards for honorary certificates to motivate consumer prosocial behavior.