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Peers and Motivation at Work: Evidence from a Firm Experiment in Malawi

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  • Brune, Lasse
  • Chyn, Eric T.
  • Kerwin, Jason Theodore

Abstract

This paper studies workplace peer effects by randomly varying work assignments at a tea estate in Malawi. We find that increasing mean peer ability by 10 percent raises productivity by 0.3 percent. This effect is driven by the responses of women. Neither production nor compensation externalities cause the effect because workers receive piece rates and do not work in teams. Additional analyses provide no support for learning or socialization as mechanisms. Instead, peer effects appear to operate through “motivation”: given the choice to be reassigned, most workers prefer working near high-ability co-workers because these peers motivate them to work harder.

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  • Brune, Lasse & Chyn, Eric T. & Kerwin, Jason Theodore, 2020. "Peers and Motivation at Work: Evidence from a Firm Experiment in Malawi," SocArXiv axbth, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:axbth
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/axbth
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    Cited by:

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    2. Kelly E. Carter, 2018. "The Effect of Labor-Management Complementarities on Production and Efficiency When Management Is Paid but Labor Is Not Paid," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 44(4), pages 535-557, September.
    3. Alexandra E. Hill & Jesse Burkhardt, 2021. "Peers in the Field: The Role of Ability and Gender in Peer Effects among Agricultural Workers," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(3), pages 790-811, May.
    4. Ben Sprung-Keyser & Sonya Porter, 2023. "The Economic Geography of Lifecycle Human Capital Accumulation: The Competing Effects of Labor Markets and Childhood Environments," Working Papers 23-54, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    5. Ben Weidmann & David J. Deming, 2020. "Team Players: How Social Skills Improve Group Performance," NBER Working Papers 27071, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Abi Adams-Prassl & Kristiina Huttunen & Emily Nix & Ning Zhang, 2022. "Violence against women at work," Economics Series Working Papers 979, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    7. Arai, Natsuki & 荒井, 夏來 & Nakazawa, Nobuhiko & 中澤, 伸彦, 2021. "Does Working with a Future Executive Make Junior Employees More Likely to Be Promoted ?," Discussion Papers 2021-01, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University.
    8. Chesney, Alexander J., 2022. "Should I get a master’s degree?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    9. Kamei, Kenju & Ashworth, John, 2023. "Peer learning in teams and work performance: Evidence from a randomized field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 413-432.
    10. Nix, Emily, 2020. "A researcher’s guide to the Swedish compulsory school reform," Working Paper Series 2020:14, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    11. Matteo Pazzona, 2022. "Peer interactions and performance in a high‐skilled labour market," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(4), pages 1087-1116, October.
    12. Martin Chegere & Paolo Falco & Andreas Menzel, 2023. "Social Ties at Work and Effort Choice: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp763, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    13. Messina, Julián & Sanz-de-Galdeano, Anna & Terskaya, Anastasia, 2024. "Birds of a Feather Earn Together. Gender and Peer Effects at the Workplace," IZA Discussion Papers 16721, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • M11 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Production Management
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management

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