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Can Meaning Make Cents? Making the Meaning of Work Salient for US Manufacturing Workers

Author

Listed:
  • Salamone, Alberto

    (London School of Economics)

  • Lordan, Grace

    (London School of Economics)

Abstract

We conducted a field experiment in a small electronics manufacturing firm in the US with the specific aim to improve minutes worked, punctuality, tardiness and safety checks. Our intervention was to put posters on the production floor on a random day, which made salient to the blue-collar employees the meaning and importance of their job, which comprised of routine repetitive tasks, in a before and after design. Overall, the intervention was a success with positive and significant effects consistently found for the outcomes both immediately after the experiment finished (+3 days) and also more than two weeks after (+15 days). Our study highlights it is possible to motivate blue collar manual workers intrinsically by drawing attention to the meaning of their work.

Suggested Citation

  • Salamone, Alberto & Lordan, Grace, 2022. "Can Meaning Make Cents? Making the Meaning of Work Salient for US Manufacturing Workers," IZA Discussion Papers 15183, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15183
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chandler, Dana & Kapelner, Adam, 2013. "Breaking monotony with meaning: Motivation in crowdsourcing markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 123-133.
    2. David H. Autor & David Dorn & Gordon H. Hanson, 2015. "Untangling Trade and Technology: Evidence from Local Labour Markets," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 0(584), pages 621-646, May.
    3. Lordan, Grace & Neumark, David, 2018. "People versus machines: The impact of minimum wages on automatable jobs," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 40-53.
    4. repec:cup:judgdm:v:2:y:2007:i::p:79-95 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Kerwin Kofi Charles & Erik Hurst & Mariel Schwartz, 2019. "The Transformation of Manufacturing and the Decline in US Employment," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(1), pages 307-372.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    meaning; motivation; blue collar; manufacturing; field experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

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