What is an Award Worth? An Econometric Assessment of the Impact of Awards on Employee Performance
43 Pages Posted: 22 May 2009
Date Written: May 15, 2009
Abstract
Behavioral economics documents the importance of status and self-image concerns in the workplace, but is largely silent about how to instrumentalize them to induce effort. Awards - widespread in the corporate sector and elsewhere - are motivators that derive their value from such social concerns. Panel data from the call center of a large international bank allow us to estimate the impact of receiving an award on effort. The performance of winners proves to be significantly higher than that of comparable nonrecipients after the award has been presented. This increase in work effort is sizeable, robust, and not driven by reverse causation.
Keywords: Awards, Motivation, Non-monetary Compensation, Event-Study, Incentives
JEL Classification: C23, J33, M52
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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