Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/175846 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Citation: 
[Journal:] PLoS ONE [ISSN:] 1932-6203 [Volume:] 13 [Issue:] 2 [Publisher:] Public Library of Science [Place:] San Francisco, CA [Year:] 2018 [Pages:] e0192038-
Publisher: 
Public Library of Science, San Francisco, CA
Abstract: 
This paper reports the results of a lab experiment designed to study the role of observability for peer effects in the setting of a simple production task. In our experiment, participants in the role of workers engage in a team real-effort task. We vary whether they can observe, or be observed by, one of their co-workers. In contrast to earlier findings from the field, we find no evidence that low-productivity workers perform better when they are observed by high-productivity co-workers. Instead, our results imply that peer effects in our experiment are heterogeneous, with some workers reciprocating a high-productivity co-worker but others taking the opportunity to free ride.
Subjects: 
laboratory experiment
peer group
peer effects
productivity
work habits
JEL: 
C91
J24
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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