Motivating Crowdworkers with Nonmonetary Incentives and Payment Framing—Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment

Maja Adena, Patrycja Janowska-Widomska and Julian Harke
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Maja Adena: WZB Berlin, TU Berlin
Patrycja Janowska-Widomska: University of Warsaw
Julian Harke: WZB Berlin

No 576, Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series from CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition

Abstract: An increasing number of individuals worldwide are participating in crowdwork and tele-work. They often perform tasks such as AI training and content moderation. While these tasks are typically conducted in large quantities and often involve routine elements, their nature makes them inherently demanding. They require high levels of engagement or creativity and produce outputs of subjective quality that are difficult to measure. In a preregistered field experiment involving over 5,500 crowdworkers, we examined the impact of automated recognition and work-appreciation phrases and payment framing on motivation, performance, and job satisfaction. The results indicate that recognition—automated phrases: Great work! You did a good job! Nice job! Well done!—positively influences subjective job satisfaction, and that loss-framed payment is somewhat more effective than gain framing. Overall, the treatments have little effect on objective and subjective performance and moti-vation.

Keywords: crowdworkers; complex tasks; routine; automated motivation; nonmonetary incentives; recognition and appreciation; loss and gain framework; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 D83 J24 J33 M52 M54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06-05
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