THE EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL AND RECOGNITION INCENTIVES ACROSS WORK CONTEXTS: THE ROLE OF MEANING |
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| Authors: | Michael Kosfeld Susanne Neckermann Xiaolan Yang |
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| Affiliation: | 1. +49 69 798 34823+49 69 798 35201;2. Professor, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60323 Frankfurt, Germany;3. CEPR;4. CESifo;5. IZA;6. ZEF;7. +31 010‐4081393+31 010‐4089161;8. Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands;9. ZEW;10. Tinbergen Institute;11. CREMA;12. Associate Professor, College of Economics, Academy of Financial Research, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, ChinaFinancial support from the DFG‐ANR project “Understanding organisations ‐ The complex interplay of incentives and identity” (FR 2822/1‐1) and the Alfons und Gertrud Kassel‐Stiftung is gratefully acknowledged. This article was previously circulated under the title “Knowing that you matter, matters! The interplay of meaning, monetary incentives, and worker recognition.” |
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| Abstract: | We manipulate workers' perceived meaning of a job in a field experiment and interact meaning of work with both financial and recognition incentives. Results show that workers exert more effort when meaning is high. Money has a positive effect on performance that is independent of meaning. In contrast, meaning and recognition interact negatively. Our results provide new insights into the stability of incentive effects across important work contexts. They also suggest that meaning and worker recognition may operate via the same motivational channel. (JEL C93, J33, M12, M52) |
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