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Motivating Public Sector Employees: Public Good Contributions in Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority

Author

Listed:
  • George Joseph

    (WBG = GBM - World Bank Group = Groupe Banque Mondiale)

  • Josepa Miquel-Florensa

    (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - UT - Université de Toulouse - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement)

  • Yi Rong Hoo

    (WBG = GBM - World Bank Group = Groupe Banque Mondiale)

  • Sanjay Pahuja

    (WBG = GBM - World Bank Group = Groupe Banque Mondiale)

  • Tewodros Tebekew

    (WBG = GBM - World Bank Group = Groupe Banque Mondiale)

Abstract

We present a lab-in-the-field experiment with employees of the Addis Ababa Water and Sanitation Authority to understand how to improve co-ordination and collaboration in their daily work. Participants play a series of public good games under different rules: a standard game, a game with a threshold, and a game with a randomly selected anonymous monitor with the power to punish. We show that a common goal, in the form of a thresh-old to be attained for the group's success, is significantly more effective than a potentially punishing monitor for increasing individual effort and, ultimately, group outcomes (conditional on the threshold being attained).

Suggested Citation

  • George Joseph & Josepa Miquel-Florensa & Yi Rong Hoo & Sanjay Pahuja & Tewodros Tebekew, 2025. "Motivating Public Sector Employees: Public Good Contributions in Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority," Post-Print hal-05057558, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05057558
    DOI: 10.1086/731967
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05057558v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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