Improving Workplace Climate in Large Corporations: A Clustered Randomized Intervention

Sule Alan, Gozde Corekcioglu and Matthias Sutter

The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2023, vol. 138, issue 1, 151-203

Abstract: We evaluate the impact of a training program aimed at improving the relational atmosphere in the workplace. The program encourages prosocial behavior and the use of professional language, focusing primarily on leaders’ behavior and leader-subordinate interactions. We implement this program using a clustered randomized design involving over 3,000 headquarters employees of 20 large corporations in Turkey. We evaluate the program with respect to employee separation, pro- and antisocial behavior, the prevalence of support networks, and perceived workplace climate. We find that treated firms have a lower likelihood of employee separation at the leadership level, fewer employees lacking professional and personal help, and denser, less segregated support networks. We also find that employees in treated corporations are less inclined to engage in toxic competition, exhibit higher reciprocity toward each other, and report higher workplace satisfaction and a more collegial environment. The program’s success in improving leader-subordinate relationships emerges as a likely mechanism to explain these results. Treated subordinates report higher professionalism and empathy in their leaders and are more likely to consider their leaders as professional support providers.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/qje/qjac034 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: Improving Workplace Climate in Large Corporations: A Clustered Randomized Intervention (2022)
Working Paper: Improving Workplace Climate in Large Corporations: A Clustered Randomized Intervention (2021)
Working Paper: Improving Workplace Climate in Large Corporations: A Clustered Randomized Intervention (2021)
Working Paper: Improving Workplace Climate in Large Corporations: A Clustered Randomized Intervention (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:qjecon:v:138:y:2023:i:1:p:151-203.

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://academic.oup.com/journals

Access Statistics for this article

The Quarterly Journal of Economics is currently edited by Robert J. Barro, Lawrence F. Katz, Nathan Nunn, Andrei Shleifer and Stefanie Stantcheva

More articles in The Quarterly Journal of Economics from President and Fellows of Harvard College
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Oxford University Press ().