Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/36977 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5040
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study the impact of status and social recognition on worker performance in a field experiment. In collaboration with an international non-governmental organization we hired students to work on a database project. Students in the award treatment were offered a congratulatory card from the organization honoring the best performance. The award was purely symbolic in order to ensure that any behavioral effect is driven by non-material benefits. Our results show that students in the award treatment outperform students in the control treatment by about 12 percent on average. Our results provide strong evidence for the motivating power of status and social recognition in labor relations with major implications for theory and applications.
Subjects: 
Award
non-monetary incentives
status
social recognition
field experiment
JEL: 
C93
M52
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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