Research

Working Papers

Inspirational or Demotivational: Experimental Evidence on the Impacts of Role Models

Abstract: Role models’ success levels may shape their effectiveness: Are more successful role models always more motivating, or can those with moderate success also be valuable? Using a randomized controlled trial with 1,920 students across five Chinese middle schools, this study varies the portrayed success level of the same role models and examines their impacts on academic performance and mental health. Two months after the intervention, students exposed to higher-achieving role models improved test scores by 0.07-0.18 standard deviations yet, on average, experienced no improvements in mental health. Conversely, those exposed to moderately achieving role models did not receive any test score gains but were 12.0 and 9.3 percentage points (=28.8% and 26.6%) less likely to report feeling depressed and stressed, respectively, suggesting that there is no single "best" role model type. Given that role-model success is relative, I also examine whether treatment effects differ across students’ baseline achievement levels. Higher-achieving role models improve low-performing girls’ academic outcomes but increase their mental health issues, as these girls increased effort but found their improved performance still falling short of their elevated aspirations. This paper highlights a design trade-off: role models’ success levels should be chosen to match program goals, and evaluations should cover both performance and well-being of the audience.