IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ucp/jpolec/doi10.1086-729443.html

The Effect of Incentives in Nonroutine Analytical Team Tasks

Author

Listed:
  • Florian Englmaier
  • Stefan Grimm
  • Dominik Grothe
  • David Schindler
  • Simeon Schudy

Abstract

Despite the prevalence of nonroutine analytical team tasks in modern economies, little is understood regarding how incentives influence performance in these tasks. In a series of field experiments involving more than 5,000 participants, we investigate how incentives alter behavior in teams working on such a task. We document a positive effect of bonus incentives on performance, even among teams with strong intrinsic motivation. Bonuses also transform team organization by enhancing the demand for leadership. Exogenously increasing teams’ demand for leadership results in performance improvements comparable to those seen with bonus incentives, rendering it as a likely mediator of incentive effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Florian Englmaier & Stefan Grimm & Dominik Grothe & David Schindler & Simeon Schudy, 2024. "The Effect of Incentives in Nonroutine Analytical Team Tasks," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(8), pages 2695-2747.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/729443
    DOI: 10.1086/729443
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/729443
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/729443
    Download Restriction: Access to the online full text or PDF requires a subscription.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1086/729443?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Grund, Christian & Harbring, Christine & Klinkenberg, Lisa, 2025. "An experiment on creativity in virtual teams," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    2. Florian Englmaier & Stefan Grimm & Dominik Grothe & David Schindler & Simeon Schudy, 2021. "The Value of Leadership: Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Experiment," CESifo Working Paper Series 9273, CESifo.
    3. Mujcic, Redzo & Powdthavee, Nattavudh, 2025. "How do humans respond to large realized losses?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    4. Campos-Mercade, Pol & Thiemann, Petra & Wengström, Erik, 2025. "Performance Incentives in Education: The Role of Goal Mismatch," Working Papers 2025:5, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    5. Bulte, Erwin & List, John A. & van Soest, Daan, 2021. "Incentive spillovers in the workplace: Evidence from two field experiments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 137-149.
    6. Jason J Sandvik & Richard E Saouma & Nathan T Seegert & Christopher T Stanton, 2020. "Workplace Knowledge Flows," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(3), pages 1635-1680.
    7. Fischer, Mira & Rilke, Rainer Michael & Yurtoglu, B. Burcin, 2020. "Two Field Experiments on Self-Selection, Collaboration Intensity, and Team Performance," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 241, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    8. Cagatay Bircan & Guido Friebel & Tristan Stahl, 2025. "Gender Promotion Gaps in Knowledge Work: The Role of Task Assignment in Teams," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 2518, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    9. Pablo Casas-Arce & F. Asís Martínez-Jerez & Joseph Moran, 2025. "Motivating from the heights: a field experiment on top managers visiting the front-line," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 1099-1135, June.
    10. Goette, Lorenz & Senn, Julien, 2024. "Incentivizing interdependent tasks: Evidence from a real-effort experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    11. Timm Opitz, 2024. "Interpersonal Preferences and Team Performance: The Role of Liking in Complex Problem Solving," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 492, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    12. Mitchell Hoffman & Christopher T. Stanton, 2024. "People, Practices, and Productivity: A Review of New Advances in Personnel Economics," NBER Working Papers 32849, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Ma, Mingye & Riener, Gerhard & Xu, Youzong, 2024. "Evaluating Yourself and Your Peers," IZA Discussion Papers 17267, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. ACCLASSATO HOUENSOU, Denis & SENOU, Melain Modeste, 2019. "Incentive scheme and productivity in microfinance institutions in Benin," MPRA Paper 95379, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Aug 2019.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/729443. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Journals Division (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/JPE .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.