Large Stakes and Big Mistakes

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ariely, Dan; Gneezy, Uri; Loewenstein, George; Mazar, Nina
• 署名单位: Duke University; Carnegie Mellon University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-937X.2009.00534.x
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 451-469
• 关键词: financial incentives; self-consciousness; performance; pressure; feedback; choking; pay

摘要

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 U.S. and in 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.