Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/263399 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15183
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We conducted a field experiment in a small electronics manufacturing firm in the US with the specific aim to improve minutes worked, punctuality, tardiness and safety checks. Our intervention was to put posters on the production floor on a random day, which made salient to the blue-collar employees the meaning and importance of their job, which comprised of routine repetitive tasks, in a before and after design. Overall, the intervention was a success with positive and significant effects consistently found for the outcomes both immediately after the experiment finished (+3 days) and also more than two weeks after (+15 days). Our study highlights it is possible to motivate blue collar manual workers intrinsically by drawing attention to the meaning of their work.
Subjects: 
meaning
motivation
blue collar
manufacturing
field experiment
JEL: 
J10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
1.25 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.