Testing the Theory of Multitasking: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment in Chinese Factories

Fuhai Hong, Tanjim Hossain (), John List and Migiwa Tanaka

Natural Field Experiments from The Field Experiments Website

Abstract: Using a natural field experiment with factory workers where we introduce a quantity-based performance-pay scheme in addition to their base salary, we quantify the impact of one-dimensional monetary incentives on both incentivized (quantity) and non-incentivized (quality) dimensions of output. While the management typically observes only quantity, we also observe quality by hiring quality-inspectors unbeknownst to the workers. While some workers receive a flat-rate base salary, others receive a piece-rate base salary. We find sharp evidence that workers under a flat-rate base salary trade off quality for quantity. Interestingly, this quantity-quality trade-off is statistically insignificant for workers under a piece-rate base salary. This variation in the treatment effect is consistent with a simple theoretical model that predicts that when agents are already incented at the margin, the quantity-quality trade-off resulting from additional incentives will be less prominent.

Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-hrm and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://s3.amazonaws.com/fieldexperiments-papers2/papers/00609.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: TESTING THE THEORY OF MULTITASKING: EVIDENCE FROM A NATURAL FIELD EXPERIMENT IN CHINESE FACTORIES (2018)
Working Paper: Testing the Theory of Multitasking: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment in Chinese Factories (2013)
Working Paper: Testing the Theory of Multitasking: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment in Chinese Factories (2013)
Working Paper: Testing the Theory of Multitasking: Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment in Chinese Factories (2013)
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:feb:natura:00609

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Natural Field Experiments from The Field Experiments Website
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Francesca Pagnotta ().