A Double-Edged Sword: The Impact of Relative Performance Information on Overwork Across Different Types of Tasks

Abstract

Previous research indicates that relative performance information (RPI) can enhance worker effort and performance, yet its impact on overwork—defined as working so long it impairs workers’ capacity to work in the future—is unclear. Addressing this gap, we conducted two experiments with workers, examining how RPI influences overwork. A key feature of our experiments is that they make overworking strictly undesirable for workers and keep the capacity to work constant across workers. Our findings show that workers overwork despite understanding its harmful effects on their subsequent productivity and performance. Moreover, the effect of RPI on overwork varies by task type. For routine tasks, more detailed RPI signals to peers when someone is overworking. Since overwork is undesirable, it causes workers to overwork less. For cognitively challenging tasks, more detailed RPI activates social comparison, driving workers to increase their short-term efforts, which spills into more overwork despite the subsequent adverse consequences for their productivity and performance. Our results suggest that RPI can be a double-edged sword by either diminishing or boosting long-term productivity and performance, depending on task type.

Keywords: Relative performance information, experiment, overwork, workforce sustainability, sustainable employment, signaling, social comparison

JEL Classification: C92, D91, M40, M41