STEVEN J. KACHELMEIER BERNHARD E. REICHERT MICHAEL G. WILLIAMSON
Abstract
ABSTRACTWe examine how worker productivity differs when compensation is based on quantity, creativity, or the product of both measures. In an experiment in which participants design "rebus puzzles," we find that combining quantity and creativity measures in a creativity-weighted pay scheme results in creativity-weighted productivity scores that are significantly lower than those generated by participants with quantity incentives alone. Follow-up analysis indicates that relative to participants in the quantity-only condition, participants in the creativity-weighted condition produce approximately the same number of high-creativity puzzles, but produce significantly fewer puzzles overall. Thus, while participants rewarded for creativity-weighted output tend to restrict their production to high-creativity efforts, they are unable to translate this focus into a greater volume of high-creativity output. Implications address a possible explanation for firms' reluctance to incorporate creativity measures within multidimensional performance measurement systems, notwithstanding published suggestions to do so. Copyright University of Chicago on behalf of the Institute of Professional Accounting, 2008.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.