The Importance of Relative Performance Feedback Information: Evidence from a Natural Experiment using High School Students

Ghazala Azmat and Nagore Iriberri

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: We study the effect of providing relative performance feedback information on performance under piece-rate incentives. A natural experiment that took place in a high school offers an unusual opportunity to test this effect in a real-effort setting. For one year only, students received information that allowed them to know whether they were above (below) the class average as well as the distance from this average. We exploit a rich panel data set and find that the provision of this information led to an increase of 5% in students' grades. Moreover, the effect was significant for the whole distribution. However, once the information was removed the effect disappeared. To rule out the concern that the effect may be driven by teachers within the school, we verify our results using national level exams (externally graded) for the same students, and the effect remains.

Keywords: school performance; relative performance; piece-rate; feedback; natural experiment; social comparison; self-perception; competitive preferences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C30 I21 M52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-edu and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Importance of Relative Performance Feedback Information: Evidence from a Natural Experiment using High School Students (2015)
Journal Article: The importance of relative performance feedback information: Evidence from a natural experiment using high school students (2010)
Working Paper: The importance of relative performance feedback information: evidence from a natural experiment using high school students (2009)
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