Thursday 11 May 2017 13:45 - 15:00

CKK 3.21, 3rd Floor, Cheng Kin Ku Building, LSE, 54 Lincoln's Inn Fields, WC2A 3LJ

About this event

We document the causal effect of simple bonus incentives on performance in a non-routine, cognitively demanding, interactive team task. These tasks are more and more important in the economy and at the same time understudied. We conduct a field experiment and show a causal positive effect of incentives on the completion probability and the overall completion time of the task. This finding does neither hinge on the framing (gain or loss) nor on a reference point effect of bonus incentives but rather on the presence of explicit incentives. We also study a number of different possible channels that might moderate the treatment effect. We find no evidence for neither gender, age nor other characteristics affecting the treatment effect. However, subjects under incentives are more likely to cut corners when completing the task. Finally, we present tentative evidence that part of the treatment effect comes from the fact that in treated teams the emergence of hierarchies and leaders is facilitated.

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Directions

This event will take place in CKK 3.21, 3rd Floor, Cheng Kin Ku Building, LSE, 54 Lincoln's Inn Fields, WC2A 3LJ.

This series is part of the CEP's Growth programme.