Effects of incentive time point on cooperation

Cooperative behavior enhances an organization's ability to reach goals. The present study investigated whether and how prepaid incentives and promised incentives influenced cooperation differently among organization members in an experiment. Results showed that promised incentives appear more effective in terms of cooperative behavior than prepaid incentives, and the perception of benefit is a mediator in the relationship between the incentive time point and cooperative choices. The psychological mechanism underlying these two types of incentives was discussed.