The impact of management practices on employee productivity: a field experiment with airline captains

Greer K. Gosnell, John List and Robert Metcalfe ()

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Increasing evidence indicates the importance of management in determining firms’ productivity. Yet causal evidence regarding the effectiveness of management practices is scarce, especially for skilled labor in the developed world. In a field experiment measuring commercial airline captains’ productivity, we test four distinct management practices: performance monitoring, performance feedback, target setting, and prosocial incentives. These practices—particularly monitoring and target setting—significantly increase captains’ productivity on the targeted fuel-saving dimensions, with positive spillovers on job satisfaction and CO 2 emissions. The study reveals an uncharted research opportunity to delve into the black box of firms to examine the determinants of productivity among skilled labor.

JEL-codes: D01 J30 Q50 R40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2020-04-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-exp and nep-hrm
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (51)

Published in Journal of Political Economy, 1, April, 2020, 128(4), pp. 1195 - 1233. ISSN: 0022-3808

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/102640/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The Impact of Management Practices on Employee Productivity: A Field Experiment with Airline Captains (2020)
Working Paper: The Impact of Management Practices on Employee Productivity: A Field Experiment with Airline Captains (2019)
Working Paper: The Impact of Management Practices on Employee Productivity: A Field Experiment with Airline Captains (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:102640

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