Procrastination and the non-monotonic effect of deadlines on task completion

Abstract

We conduct a field experiment to test the non-monotonic effect of deadline length on task completion. Participants are invited to complete an online survey in which a donation goes to charity. They are given either 1 week, 1 month, or no deadline to respond. Responses are lowest for the 1-month deadline and highest when no deadline is specified. No deadline and the 1-week deadline feature a large number of early responses, while providing a 1-month deadline appears to give people permission to procrastinate. If they are inattentive, they might forget to complete the task.