Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/111534 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9084
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We conduct a real-effort experiment to test whether workers reciprocate generous wages by managers when workers are tempted to surf the internet. Further, we investigate how an active policy of restricting the usage of the internet affects the workers' motivation. We observe that the temptation of the internet hampers workers' willingness to reciprocate fair wages. Yet, when the manager makes an active choice not to deny internet access, workers perceive the "freedom from control" as a gift which they reciprocate with high effort. Whether the positive "freedom from control" aspect or the negative temptation aspect dominates depends on the worker's reciprocity: for highly reciprocal workers the control aspect dominates; for non-reciprocal workers the temptation aspect dominates.
Subjects: 
gift exchange
temptation
hidden costs of control
JEL: 
C91
D03
J33
M52
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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