Motivation in a Reciprocal Task: Interaction Effects of Task Meaning, Goal Salience, and Time Pressure

Valentin Wagner and Gerhard Riener

The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2022, vol. 22, issue 3, 633-645

Abstract: We investigate the effectiveness of task meaning, time pressure, and knowing the upper bound of performance (maximum performance goal) in a reciprocal information digitization task and their interactions. Participants search information about schools where the quantity dimension of information refers to the number of schools and the quality dimension to finding the correct name of the headmaster. We obtain measures of quality (correctly entered information) and quantity (number of digitized entities). Time pressure has a positive effect on quantity and a negative on quality. Moreover, we cannot replicate the positive effects of high task meaning found in previous research. This indicates that its effectiveness might depend on the work context. While time pressure significantly decreases quality, its interaction with task meaning and maximum performance goals increases quantity marginally without loss in quality.

Keywords: meaning of the task; goal salience; time pressure; motivation; lab experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J30 M12 M52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2021-0254

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