Boosting the Effect of Peer Recognition on Cooperation? Experimental Evidence on a Workplace Intervention

Abstract

This paper documents a field experiment on how peer recognition affects cooperation in the workplace. Using an online public goods game in a large financial corporation in Colombia, we show that both public and private recognition have a significant within-subjects effect on employee voluntary contributions. A difference-in-difference specification suggests that a team development intervention conducted by the firm to improve work environment affected this relationship. A comparison of the effect of recognition on cooperation before and after the treatment suggests that the intervention boosted the effect of private recognition on the willingness to unconditionally cooperate, but instead countervailed the effect of group recognition.

Keywords: field experiment, recognition, social innovation, cooperation, team development intervention

JEL Classification: C92, D78, M54, O16, O35