Assessment of the Impact of Monetary Incentives upon Smoking Behavior

Abstract

Following the recent innovative use of monetary incentives by some business firms to discourage cigarette smoking among their employees, this study attempts to evaluate the merits of such programs in a carefully controlled environment. Results indicated that a monetary incentive was generally effective in discouraging people from smoking cigarettes. Interestingly, a monetary incentive offered to groups appeared to be more effective in bringing about behavioral changes among females than among males. Conversely, incentives offered directly to individuals appeared to result in more positive behavioral changes among males than among females. Time of the offer, that is, whether the incentive was offered immediately following the change in behavior or six months after the behavior had been established did not seem to make any difference in the effectiveness of the incentive.