Please use this form to submit your study for inclusion into our database. It will be checked by a member of the Innovation Growth Lab team, who may be in contact to ask for more information. Your email address * Your name * Title * The name of the study Short summary This meta-analysis of field experimental evidence on firm-employee relationships finds strong evidence that financial incentive increase output, and that non-financial approaches and social relations also have important impacts. However, many important topics have not been studied yet using field experiments, including recruiting, worker promotion, and training. A brief description of the project's goals and its current state Abstract <p>This paper reviews the field experimental evidence on firm–employee relationships. There is strong evidence that output rises in response to financial incentives, but more mixed support for worker reciprocity in response to employer generosity. Non-financial approaches, such as worker recognition or adding ‘meaning’ to mundane tasks, can also increase output. Social relations are central to how firms function and have been shown to have an important impact on the design of incentive schemes. What we do not know, however, far exceeds that which we have learned. A broad swathe of important topics, including recruiting, worker promotion, and training, are virtually untouched thus far by field experiments.</p> The full abstract of the study, if available Links http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/30/4/639.full.pdf+html Links to any published papers and related discussions Authors * Affiliations Academic and other institutes that the authors of the study are members of Delivery partner Organisations involved in delivering the trial, if appropriate Year Year Year199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026 Month MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec Day Day12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 Journal Journal publishing the study, if available Publication stage * Working Paper Published Ongoing Research Forthcoming Discussion Paper Research theme * Entrepreneurship Innovation Business Growth Country Country or countries where this study took place. Topics What sort of topics does the study cover? Sample attributes Hypotheses / research question What has field experimental research shown in terms of what we know about firm-employee relations? Topics include financial incentives and worker reciprocity, worker recognition, social relations in firms and implications for design of incentive schemes, and the impact of organisational design (work from home programmes, teams and worker autonomy on worker productivity) Sample Trial population and sample selection Various Number of treatment groups Size of treatment groups Various Size of control group Unit of analysis Clustered? Yes No Cluster details Trial attributes Treatment description Various Rounds of data collection Baseline data collection and method various Data collection method and data collected Evaluation Outcome variables Results <p>Financial incentives increase performance: Evidence has largely come from relatively simple jobs, but some experimental evidence also exists for more representative jobs in the economy. The motivating effect of tournaments is more nuanced. Strong incentives can also induce unintended responses, like trade-offs between quality and quantity, or decreases in worker cooperation. Reciprocity works, but not always, and not permanently: Reciprocity appears to have some impact on workers' decisions to allocate effort, but the existing literature has not compellingly established the strength and the robustness of the effect. As a motivator, it is often significantly mitigated by social relationships, time frame, perceived underpayment, and other context factors. Non-financial incentives can also be effective: Firms can motivate worker productivity in ways that do not incur financial costs. For example, offering awards, social recognition, performance feedback, and use of faming. Social relations are important: Social interactions and ties within workplaces influence productivity. This has been shown among working' peers with respect to relationships, attitudes and abilities; relationships between workers and managers; and in the context of buyers and sellers. Work organisation affects performance: Work from home has been shown to increase productivity and work satisfaction. Working in teams has yielded evidence that it leads to greater productivity as compared to working individually. Loss of shared social connections in teams can decrease productivity.</p> Intervention costs Not applicable. Cost benefit ratio Reference Levitt, S., Neckermann, S., 2014. 'What Field Experiments Have and Have Not Taught Us about Managing Workers'. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, vol. 30 (4), pages 639-657. Citation for use in academic references
