Recognizing the Best: The Productive and Counterproductive Effects of Relative Performance Recognition

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wang, Laura W.
• 署名单位: University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• 刊物名称: CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTING RESEARCH
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0823-9150
• DOI: 10.1111/1911-3846.12292
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 966-990
• 关键词: dark triad; personality; COMPENSATION; COMPETITION; PSYCHOLOGY; Machiavellianism; tournaments; INFORMATION; validation; narcissism

摘要

I use a laboratory experiment to examine the productive and counterproductive effects of providing employees nonpecuniary recognition based on measures of relative performance. I find that, on average, recognition programs increase both productive efforts (those intended to increase one's own performance) and counterproductive efforts (those intended to decrease peer performance) in a setting where it is salient to employees that they can exert both productive and counterproductive efforts. Interestingly, I also find that these effects are moderated by the Dark Triad of personalities, a group of three personality traits. My study reveals that recognition programs mainly lead individuals who score lower on the Dark Triad to increase counterproductive efforts and those who score higher on the Dark Triad to increase productive efforts. These results contribute to the literature on relative performance information by demonstrating that recognition programs can have both productive and counterproductive effects. However, whether these programs produce mainly a productive or counterproductive effect depends on important personality characteristics of the employees.