Becoming "We" Instead of "I", Identity Management and Incentives in the Workplace

Donze, Jocelyn and Gunnes, Trude (2013): Becoming "We" Instead of "I", Identity Management and Incentives in the Workplace.

Abstract

This paper studies how a firm fosters formal and informal interactions among its employees to create a collective identity and positively influence effort. We develop a model where employees have both a personal and a social ideal for effort, and where the firm can make its workforce more sensitive to this social ideal by allocating part of the work time to social interactions. We show that by investing in social capital, the firm can increase the power of peer pressure, make screening among heterogeneous employees less costly and, finally, augment the effectiveness of monetary incentives.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: monetary and non monetary incentives, social norms, norm regulation, identity
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D0 - General > D03 - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles; D - Microeconomics > D2 - Production and Organizations > D21 - Firm Behavior: Theory; D - Microeconomics > D8 - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty > D86 - Economics of Contract: Theory; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J33 - Compensation Packages ; Payment Methods; M - Business Administration and Business Economics ; Marketing ; Accounting ; Personnel Economics > M5 - Personnel Economics

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