GENDER DIFFERENCES IN MOTIVATIONAL CROWDING OUT OF WORK PERFORMANCE

• DOI: 10.1111/ecin.12718
• Publication Date: 2018-09-19T13:34:37Z
• Authors: Volker Benndorf; Holger A. Rau; Christian Sölch
• Keywords: J16; ddc:330; gender differences; incentives; C91; 0502 economics and business; 05 social sciences; 8. Economic growth; M54; motivational crowding out; real-effort task

This paper shows that prior financial incentives induce a crowding‐out effect when incentives are discontinued. In our real‐effort experiment workers receive a piece rate before monetary incentives are substituted by a one‐time payment. In this case, workers' performance significantly drops when receiving the one‐time payment. The effect is driven by a fraction of men who reduce effort substantially, whereas women constantly perform well. We find that this motivational crowding‐out effect disappears when men do not have prior experience of a piece rate. In a series of control treatments, we discard several alternative explanations besides motivational crowding out. (JEL C91, J16, M54)