The supplemental effects of feedback on work performance under a monetary incentive system
Date
2018-06-26
Authors
Agnew, Judy Lynn
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Abstract
Individual monetary incentive systems usually include performance feedback as part of the intervention package.
However, there is no experimental evidence to suggest that
feedback has any functional effect on work performance above and
beyond the effects of the incentive systems. It may be that incentive
systems have such powerful effects on work behavior that the
additional contingencies provided by a feedback system are
unnecessary. The present laboratory study investigated the
supplemental effects of feedback on work performance under a
monetary incentive system. Four subjects were hired to work seven
hours a day for four and a half weeks. The experimental work task
was a simulation of a proof operator’s job at a bank and involved
typing dollar values of “checks” into a computer. Subjects were
paid a base salary per session plus incentive money for
performance above a criterion. The main dependent variable was
the number of correctly completed checks per session. The amount
of time off task and rate of responding were also investigated.
Subjects were exposed to an ABA experimental design involving;
(A) the monetary incentive system without performance feedback,
(B) the incentive system with performance feedback, and (A) return
to the incentive system without performance feedback. The
introduction of feedback resulted in small to moderate performance
improvements in two of the four subjects. Possible reasons for the
small and inconsistent effects were explored with special attention
paid to the functional role of feedback and monetary incentives. It
was proposed that small amounts of incentive money and
performance feedback may not improve productivity in the absence
of other stimulus events inherent in real organizational settings,
such as the possibility for pay raises, promotions, and/or the threat
of being fired. These variables may have function-altering effects
on incentive money and performance feedback. Future laboratory
simulations might experimentally manipulate these variables to
further investigate the efficacy of monetary incentive systems.
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Keywords
Wages and labor productivity, Psychological aspects, Labor productivity, Employee competitive behavior, Incentives in industry, Incentive (Psychology), Motivation (Psychology)