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203
Identity and the Economics of Organizations
- Journal of Economic Perspective
, 2005
"... The economics of organizations is replete with the pitfalls of monetary rewards and punishments to motivate workers. If economic incentives do not work, what does? This paper proposes that workers’ self-image as jobholders, coupled with their ideal as to how their job should be done, can be a major ..."
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Cited by 192 (1 self)
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The economics of organizations is replete with the pitfalls of monetary rewards and punishments to motivate workers. If economic incentives do not work, what does? This paper proposes that workers’ self-image as jobholders, coupled with their ideal as to how their job should be done, can be a major work incentive. It shows how such identities can flatten reward schedules, as they solve the “principal-agent” problem. The paper also identifies and explores a new tradeoff: supervisors may provide information to principals, but create rifts within the workforce and reduce employees ’ intrinsic work incentives. We motivate the theory with examples from the classic sociology of military and civilian organizations.
The Hidden Costs of Control
"... We analyze the consequences of control on motivation in an experimental principal agent game, where the principal can control the agent by implementing a minimum performance requirement before the agent chooses a productive activity. Our results show that control entails hidden costs since most agen ..."
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Cited by 106 (0 self)
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We analyze the consequences of control on motivation in an experimental principal agent game, where the principal can control the agent by implementing a minimum performance requirement before the agent chooses a productive activity. Our results show that control entails hidden costs since most agents reduce their performance as a response to the principal’s controlling decision. Overall, the effect of control on the principal’s payoff is nonmonotonic. When asked for their emotional perception of control, most agents who react negatively say that they perceive the controlling decision as a signal of distrust and a limitation of their choice autonomy.
Walking the Walk'' of Public Service Motivation: Public Employees and Charitable Gifts of Time
- Blood, and Money.' Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory
"... Research generally indicates that public employees ‘‘talk the talk,’ ’ but do they also ‘‘walk the walk’ ’ of the public service motive (PSM)? Are public service employees more likely than others to engage in public service activities? The behavioral implications of PSM are addressed by studying the ..."
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Cited by 43 (1 self)
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Research generally indicates that public employees ‘‘talk the talk,’ ’ but do they also ‘‘walk the walk’ ’ of the public service motive (PSM)? Are public service employees more likely than others to engage in public service activities? The behavioral implications of PSM are addressed by studying the involvement in charitable activities of public, nonprofit, and private workers. Using data from the 2002 General Social Survey, multivariate logistic regression models are estimated to examine self-reported gifts of time, blood, and money to charitable organizations. It is found that government employees are more likely to volunteer for charity and to donate blood than for-profit employees are. Additionally, nonprofit workers are also more likely than their for-profit counterparts to volunteer. However, no difference is found among public service and private employees in terms of individual philanthropy. These findings generally lend support for the hypothesis that PSM is more prominent in public service than in private organizations, especially as it pertains to government personnel. A decade ago Robert Behn (1995) identified learning how to motivate employees as one of the ‘‘big’ ’ questions of public management. Yet typical treatments of motivation in the
Interest alignment and competitive advantage
- Academy of Management Review
, 2007
"... This paper articulates a theory of the conditions under which the alignment between individual and collective interests generates sustainable competitive advantage. The theory is based on the influence of tacitness, context specificity, and causal ambiguity in the determinants of different types of ..."
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Cited by 33 (1 self)
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This paper articulates a theory of the conditions under which the alignment between individual and collective interests generates sustainable competitive advantage. The theory is based on the influence of tacitness, context specificity, and causal ambiguity in the determinants of different types of motivation (extrinsic, normative intrinsic, and hedonic instinsic) under varying conditions of environmental dynamism. The analysis indicates the need to consider motivational processes as a complement to current resource- and competence-based approaches in a comprehensive theory of competi-tive advantage. In the ongoing bid to discover sources of com-petitive advantage, scholars have paid increas-ing attention recently to the role of human resource factors in influencing firm competitive-ness. Proponents of the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm have argued that while tangi-ble assets are typically imitable and thus un-
Does Monitoring Decrease Work Effort? The Complementarity Between Agency and Crowding-Out Theories.
- Games and Economic Behavior,
, 2008
"... Abstract Agency theory assumes that tighter monitoring by the principal should motivate agents to increase their effort, whereas the "crowding-out" literature suggests that the opposite may occur. These two assertions are not necessarily contradictory provided that the nature of the emplo ..."
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Cited by 28 (2 self)
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Abstract Agency theory assumes that tighter monitoring by the principal should motivate agents to increase their effort, whereas the "crowding-out" literature suggests that the opposite may occur. These two assertions are not necessarily contradictory provided that the nature of the employment relationship is taken into account JEL Code: M5, J24, C92
The Motivation and Bias of Bureaucrats
"... Many individuals are motivated to exert effort because they care about their jobs, rather than because there are monetary consequences to their actions. The intrinsic motivation of bureaucrats is the focus of this paper, and three primary results are shown. First, bureaucrats should be biased. Secon ..."
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Cited by 27 (0 self)
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Many individuals are motivated to exert effort because they care about their jobs, rather than because there are monetary consequences to their actions. The intrinsic motivation of bureaucrats is the focus of this paper, and three primary results are shown. First, bureaucrats should be biased. Second, sometimes this bias takes the form of advocating for their clients more than would their principal, while in other cases, they are more hostile to their interests. For a range of bureaucracies, those who are biased against clients lead to more efficient outcomes. Third, self-selection need not produce the desired bias. Instead, selection to bureaucracies is likely to be bifurcated, in the sense that it becomes composed of those who are most preferred by the principal, and those who are least preferred.
Payments for ecosystem services: From local to global.
- Ecological Economics,
, 2010
"... Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is becoming increasingly popular as a way to manage ecosystems using economic incentives. The environmental economics approach to PES tries to force ecosystem services into the market model, with an emphasis on efficiency. The ecological economics approach, in c ..."
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Cited by 27 (2 self)
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Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is becoming increasingly popular as a way to manage ecosystems using economic incentives. The environmental economics approach to PES tries to force ecosystem services into the market model, with an emphasis on efficiency. The ecological economics approach, in contrast, seeks to adapt economic institutions to the physical characteristics of ecosystem services prioritizing ecological sustainability and just distribution and requiring a transdisciplinary approach. This paper summarizes the results of a participatory "atelier" workshop held in Costa Rica. We developed a set of principles (the Heredia Declaration) for PES systems and report on evolving initiatives in several countries. We discuss how the distinction between ecosystem goods (which are stock-flow resources) and ecosystem services (which are fund-service resources) and the physical characteristics of the fund-services affect the appropriate institutional form for PES. We conclude that PES systems represent an important way to effectively manage fund-service resources as public goods, and that this represents a significant departure from conventional market institutions.
Large stakes and big mistakes
- Review of Economic Studies
, 2009
"... Workers in a wide variety of jobs are paid based on performance, which is commonly seen as enhancing effort and productivity relative to non-contingent pay schemes. However, psychological research suggests that excessive rewards can in some cases result in a decline in performance. To test whether v ..."
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Cited by 26 (1 self)
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Workers in a wide variety of jobs are paid based on performance, which is commonly seen as enhancing effort and productivity relative to non-contingent pay schemes. However, psychological research suggests that excessive rewards can in some cases result in a decline in performance. To test whether very high monetary rewards can decrease performance, we conducted a set of experiments in the US and India in which subjects worked on different tasks and received performance-contingent payments that varied in amount from small to very large relative to their typical levels of pay. With some important exceptions, very high reward levels had a detrimental effect on performance. 1 Acknowledgements. The authors are grateful for the help of the faculty and students at Narayanan College
Performance appraisal systems: Determinants and change
- British Journal of Industrial Relations
, 2005
"... Using establishment data from the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey, this paper estimates the determinants of performance appraisal systems. The results indicate that performance appraisal is associated with workers having shorter expected tenure and greater influence over productivit ..."
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Cited by 24 (3 self)
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Using establishment data from the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey, this paper estimates the determinants of performance appraisal systems. The results indicate that performance appraisal is associated with workers having shorter expected tenure and greater influence over productivity. We argue these results reflect those circumstances in which the net benefits of performance appraisal are likely to be greatest. The results also show that complementary human resource management practices, such as formal training and incentive pay, are associated with an increased likelihood of performance appraisal, but that union density is associated with a reduced likelihood of performance appraisal.
Neuroeconomics: an overview from an economic perspective
- Brain Research Bulletin
, 2005
"... Until now, economic theory has not systematically integrated the influence of emotions on decision-making. Since evidence from neuroscience suggests that decision-making as hypothesized in economic theory depends on prior emotional processing, interdisciplinary research under the label of “neuroecon ..."
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Cited by 20 (1 self)
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Until now, economic theory has not systematically integrated the influence of emotions on decision-making. Since evidence from neuroscience suggests that decision-making as hypothesized in economic theory depends on prior emotional processing, interdisciplinary research under the label of “neuroeconomics ” arose. The key idea of this approach is to employ recent neuroscientific methods in order to analyze economically relevant brain processes. This paper aims to provide an overview of the current state of neuroeconomic research by giving a brief description of the concept of neuroeconomics, outlining methods commonly used and describing current studies in this new research area. Finally, some future prospects and limitations are discussed.
