Introduction to Behavioural Economics: Employee and Customer Behaviour
Gain the skills to promote behaviour change in your employees and customers through effective incentives.
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Duration
3 weeksWeekly study
2 hours100% online
How it works
Introduction to Behavioural Economics: Employee and Customer Behaviour
Gain the skills to motivate positive behaviour change
On this three-week course, you’ll gain the skills to push for positive behavioural change in your work place.
Guided by Paul Dolan, Professor of Behavioural Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science, you’ll learn how to promote positive behaviour change in your employees through effective incentives.
Through an exploration of incentivisation, default behaviours, and commitment, you’ll learn how you can use this understanding to motivate positive behaviour change in both your employees and customers.
Explore different types of incentives
To help you choose the right incentive for your context, you’ll explore the different types, such as financial and pro-social, and assess the success of each incentive in affecting behaviour change.
Next, you’ll learn the difference between incentives and commitments and explore how you could use commitment pledges to change behaviour in the workplace.
Discover the role of mental accounting
You’ll be introduced to reference points and mental accounting to understand how they affect the success of your incentives.
Through this exploration, you’ll discover how they exert influence and why they work so effectively in anything from pension choices to hospital care.
Understand key learnings in behavioural science
By the end of the course, you’ll understand the behavioural economic factors that can influence your employees and customers.
Syllabus
Week 1
Incentives
Welcome
Welcome to Behavioural Economics: Employee and Customer Behaviour. In this first week on incentives, Paul will introduce you to the tried and tested method of changing behaviour with financial incentives.
Sticks and carrots for behaviour change
In this activity, you will be able to discuss the use of different types of incentives and how well they can affect behaviour change.
Quirks of incentives: reference points
In this activity, you will learn how to think about the role of reference points and mental accounting in conditioning the response to incentives.
Quirks of incentives: time and risk preferences
In this activity, you will understand how to differentiate between incentives which have risk and/or time components and those which don’t, and to think about how to use both.
Crowding in and out, extrinsic vs intrinsic motives
In this activity, you will be able to appreciate the relationship between financial incentives and prosocial motives.
Wrap up
In this activity we will summarise what you have learned about incentives and learn a little about the topic of next week: commitments.
Week 2
Commitments
Commitment
In this activity, you will be able to consider how you could use commitment pledges to change your own behaviour.
Commitments in practice
Here, you will consider how you could use commitment pledges to change behaviour in a professional setting and link commitments with other things you have learned in this course, such as incentives and social influences.
Soft and hard commitments
In this activity, you'll discuss the different types of commitments and think about which is most appropriate in which context.
MINDSPACE in Practice
In this activity, you will use everything you've learned so far from MINDSPACE and will create a behavioural intervention design relating to your workplace or a similar environment.
Wrap up
In this activity we will summarise what you have learned about commitments and look forward to the next week about defaults.
Week 3
Defaults
Commitment
In this activity, you will be able to consider the widespread presence of defaults and the role of inertia in much of your (and others’) decision-making.
Defaults and pensions
In this activity, you will be able to discuss ways to improve default options by using what you have learned in behavioural science, and will have a working knowledge of the widely used pension plans that harness defaults.
Why do defaults work?
In this activity, you will think creatively about what you have learned in behavioural science and how it relates to the success of defaults.
Defaults and the ethics of nudging
In this activity, you will debate and discuss the role of ethics in nudging, with special reference to the case of defaults.
Wrap up
In this activity, you'll reflect on everything you've learned over the past few weeks about the application of behavioural science in the workplace.
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Available now
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Discuss the use of different types of incentives and how well they can effect behaviour change.
- Examine the role of reference points and mental accounting in conditioning the response to incentives.
- Differentiate between incentives which have risk and/or time components and those which don’t, and think about how to use both.
- Explore the relationship between financial incentives and pro-social motives.
- Consider the widespread presence of defaults and the role of inertia in much of their (and others’) decision-making.
- Discuss ways to improve default options based on key learnings in behavioural science.
- Discuss the role of ethics in nudging, with special reference to the case of defaults.
Who is the course for?
This course is designed for anyone who wants to learn more about human behaviours and needs.
It will be particularly useful if you are a professional managing, building, or developing a team.
If you want to deepen your understanding of this subject, you may be interested in these courses. They feature similar subject matter and share the same overall learning outcomes:
Who will you learn with?
Paul is a Professor of Behavioural Science. His main research interests are human behaviour and happiness. Author of bestselling Happiness by Design and Happy Ever After, host of Duck-Rabbit podcast.
Who developed the course?
FutureLearn
FutureLearn is a leading social learning platform and has been providing high quality online courses for learners around the world over the last ten years.
Ways to learn | Buy this course | Subscribe & save | Limited access |
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| Choose the best way to learn for you! | $109/one-off payment | $39.99/month Automatically renews | Free |
| Fulfill your current learning need | Develop skills to further your career | Sample the course materials | |
| Access to this course | tick | tick | Access expires 10 May 2024 |
| Access to 1,000+ courses | cross | tick | cross |
| Learn at your own pace | tick | tick | cross |
| Discuss your learning in comments | tick | tick | tick |
| Tests to check your learning | tick | tick | cross |
| Certificate when you're eligible | Printed and digital | Digital only | cross |
Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Subscribe & save
$39.99/month
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Buy this course
$109/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Limited access
Free
Sample the course materials
- Access expires 10 May 2024
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) | |||
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
Learning on FutureLearn
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- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
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- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
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