IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/has/discpr/2516.html

The incentive effect of bonuses on firm performance

Author

Listed:
  • Balázs Reizer

    (ELTE Centre for Economic and Regional Studies; Corvinus University Budapest)

Abstract

I investigate the relationship between bonus payments and firm performance using Hungarian linked employer-employee data. A raw comparison shows that firms paying bonuses to 10 percentage points more of their employees are 3-5 percent more productive. Then, I construct an instrument to estimate the incentive effect of bonus payments. The IV estimates show that the incentive effect of a 10 percentage point increase in the share of employees with bonus payments increases firm productivity by 7-14 percent. Based on these results, I conclude that the raw comparison of firms with and without bonuses underestimates the incentive effects of bonus payments. Furthermore, some firms may have motivations for paying bonuses other than incentivizing employees.

Suggested Citation

  • Balázs Reizer, 2025. "The incentive effect of bonuses on firm performance," KRTK-KTI WORKING PAPERS 2516, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:has:discpr:2516
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://kti.krtk.hu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/KRTKKTIWP202516.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Doug J. Chung & Thomas Steenburgh & K. Sudhir, 2014. "Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 165-187, March.
    2. Oriana Bandiera & Iwan Barankay & Imran Rasul, 2005. "Social Preferences and the Response to Incentives: Evidence from Personnel Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(3), pages 917-962.
    3. Wei Jiang, 2017. "Have Instrumental Variables Brought Us Closer to the Truth," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(2), pages 127-140.
    4. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2007. "Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1351-1408.
    5. Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1981. "Implicit Contracts, Moral Hazard, and Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 301-307, May.
    6. Steven D. Levitt & Chad Syverson, 2008. "Market Distortions When Agents Are Better Informed: The Value of Information in Real Estate Transactions," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(4), pages 599-611, November.
    7. André Kurmann & Erika McEntarfer, 2019. "Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity in the United States: New Evidence from Worker-Firm Linked Data," Working Papers 19-07, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    8. Roland Bénabou & Jean Tirole, 2016. "Bonus Culture: Competitive Pay, Screening, and Multitasking," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(2), pages 305-370.
    9. Cuñat, Vicente & Guadalupe, Maria, 2009. "Executive compensation and competition in the banking and financial sectors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 495-504, March.
    10. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Kevin Caves & Garth Frazer, 2015. "Identification Properties of Recent Production Function Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2411-2451, November.
    11. Edward P. Lazear, 2018. "Compensation and Incentives in the Workplace," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(3), pages 195-214, Summer.
    12. Bruce Shearer, 2004. "Piece Rates, Fixed Wages and Incentives: Evidence from a Field Experiment," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 71(2), pages 513-534.
    13. Druant, Martine & Fabiani, Silvia & Kezdi, Gabor & Lamo, Ana & Martins, Fernando & Sabbatini, Roberto, 2012. "Firms' price and wage adjustment in Europe: Survey evidence on nominal stickiness," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 772-782.
    14. Card, David, 2001. "Estimating the Return to Schooling: Progress on Some Persistent Econometric Problems," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(5), pages 1127-1160, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Paweł Doligalski & Abdoulaye Ndiaye & Nicolas Werquin, 2023. "Redistribution with Performance Pay," Journal of Political Economy Macroeconomics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(2), pages 371-402.
    2. Reizer, Balázs, 2022. "Employment and Wage Consequences of Flexible Wage Components," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Balazs Reizer, 2016. "Do Firms Pay Bonuses to Protect Jobs?," KRTK-KTI WORKING PAPERS 1612, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    4. Balázs Reizer, 2015. "Do Firms Pay Bonuses to Protect Jobs?," CEU Working Papers 2015_6, Department of Economics, Central European University.
    5. Jin, Zhangfeng & Pan, Shiyuan, 2020. "Incentive Pay and Firm Productivity: Evidence from China," GLO Discussion Paper Series 479, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Cai, Xiqian & Jiang, Wei & Song, Hong & Xie, Huihua, 2022. "Pay for performance schemes and manufacturing worker productivity: Evidence from a kinked design in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    7. Dongshin Kim & Davin Raiha & Youngme Seo, 2026. "House Search Traffic: Does It Matter?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 666-698, April.
    8. Bloom, Nicholas & Van Reenen, John, 2011. "Human Resource Management and Productivity," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 19, pages 1697-1767, Elsevier.
    9. Jakob Alfitian & Dirk Sliwka & Timo Vogelsang, 2021. "When Bonuses Backfire: Evidence from the Workplace," Natural Field Experiments 00725, The Field Experiments Website.
    10. 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.
    11. Theresa Thompson Chaudhry & Mahvish Faran, 2015. "Organization, Management, and Wage Practices in Pakistan’s Electrical Fan and Readymade Garment Sectors," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 20(Special E), pages 183-204, September.
    12. Nobel Prize Committee, 2016. "Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström: Contract Theory," Nobel Prize in Economics documents 2016-1, Nobel Prize Committee.
    13. Josse Delfgaauw & Robert Dur & Oke Onemu & Joeri Sol, 2022. "Team Incentives, Social Cohesion, and Performance: A Natural Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(1), pages 230-256, January.
    14. Eduard Marinov, 2016. "The 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 6, pages 97-149.
    15. Kato, Takao & Kauhanen, Antti & Kujansuu, Essi, 2013. "The Performance Effects of Individual and Group Incentives: A Case Study," ETLA Working Papers 19, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    16. Lucifora, Claudio & Origo, Federica, 2025. "Rigid yet resilient: Firms’ margins of adjustment to demand shocks in regulated labour markets," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    17. Englmaier, Florian & Grimm, Stefan & Schindler, David & Schudy, Simeon, 2018. "The Effect of Incentives in Non-Routine Analytical Team Tasks – Evidence from a Field Experiment," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168286, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Oyer, Paul & Schaefer, Scott, 2011. "Personnel Economics: Hiring and Incentives," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 20, pages 1769-1823, Elsevier.
    19. Omar Al-Ubaydli & John A. List, 2019. "How natural field experiments have enhanced our understanding of unemployment," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 3(1), pages 33-39, January.
    20. Duso, Tomaso & Schiersch, Alexander, 2025. "Let's switch to the cloud: Cloud usage and its effect on labor productivity," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • M5 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:has:discpr:2516. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Nora Horvath The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Nora Horvath to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iehashu.html .

    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.