Getting more work for nothing? Symbolic awards and worker performance

Arbeitspapier

We study the impact of status and social recognition on worker performance in a field experiment. In collaboration with an international non-governmental organization we hired students to work on a database project. Students in the award treatment were offered a congratulatory card from the organization honoring the best performance. The award was purely symbolic in order to ensure that any behavioral effect is driven by non-material benefits. Our results show that students in the award treatment outperform students in the control treatment by about 12 percent on average. Our results provide strong evidence for the motivating power of status and social recognition in labor relations with major implications for theory and applications.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 5040

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Field Experiments ; Personnel Economics: Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects
• Thema: Award ; non-monetary incentives ; status ; social recognition ; field experiment ; Leistungsmotivation ; Leistungsanreiz ; Sozialer Status ; Feldforschung ; Nichtregierungsorganisation

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Kosfeld, Michael ; Neckermann, Susanne
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (wo): Bonn
• (wann): 2010

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/36977
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:44 MEZ