Goals (th)at work: Goals, monetary incentives, and workers' performance

Arbeitspapier

In a randomized field experiment, we investigate the connection between work goals, monetary incentives, and work performance. Employees are observed in a natural work environment where they have to do a simple, but effort-intense task. Output is perfectly observable and workers are paid for performance. While a regular piece-rate contract serves as a benchmark, in some treatments workers are paid a bonus conditional on reaching a pre-specified goal. We observe that the use of personal work goals leads to a significant output increase. The positive effect of goals not only prevails if they are self-chosen by the workers, but also if goals are set exogenously by the principal - although in the latter case, the exact size of the goal plays a crucial role. Strikingly, the positive effect of self-chosen goals persists even if the goal is not backed up by monetary incentives. We propose a novel incentive contract where - through the choice of a personal work goal - workers themselves determine the risk and the size of their bonus payment at the same time.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: Preprints of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods ; No. 2012/19

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines ; Field Experiments ; Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles ; Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Compensation Packages; Payment Methods ; Personnel Economics: Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects
• Thema: Goal setting ; monetary incentives ; bonus payments ; pay-for-performance contracts ; workplace behavior ; field experiment ; Leistungsentgelt ; Akkordlohn ; Betriebswirtschaftliches Ziel ; Arbeitsleistung ; Feldforschung ; Deutschland

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Goerg, Sebastian J. ; Kube, Sebastian
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods
• (wo): Bonn
• (wann): 2012

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/85000
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:41 MEZ