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Prosocial incentives and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives are seen by many firms as an effective way to motivate workers. Recent empirical results seem to support the expectation that prosocial incentive, e.g. in the form of a charitable donations by the firm, can increase effort and motivation - sometimes even better than monetary incentives. We argue that the benefits crucially depend on the perceived intention of the firm. Workers use prosocial incentives as a signal about the firm's type and if used instrumentally in order to profit the firm, they can backfire. We show in an experiment in collaboration with an Italian firm, that monetary and prosocial incentives work very differently. While monetary incentives used instrumentally increase effort, instrumental charitable incentives backfire compared to non-instrumental incentives. This is especially true for non-prosocially-motivated workers who do not care about the prosocial cause but use prosocial incentives only as a signal about the firm. The results contribute to the understanding of the limits of prosocial incentives by focusing on their signaling value to the agent about the principal's type.

Zonder onderwerpscode: economie

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Zonder onderwerpscode: economie

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In this text a leading economist discusses the potential of happiness research (the qualification of well-being) to answer important questions that standard economics methods are unable to analyze. Emphasizing empirical evidence rather than theoretical conjectures, Frey substantiates the need for happiness research.

Microeconomics --- Economic order --- Happiness --- Economics --- Economic aspects --- Psychological aspects --- Psychological aspects. --- Economic aspects. --- AA / International- internationaal --- 313 --- 330.580 --- 339.21 --- 15 --- -Economics --- -330.01 --- Economic theory --- Political economy --- Social sciences --- Economic man --- Gladness --- Emotions --- Cheerfulness --- Contentment --- Pleasure --- Well-being --- Levenswijze en levensstandaard. Levensminimum. sociale indicatoren (Studiën). --- Gecontroleerde economie. Geleide economie. Welvaarststaat. Algemeenheden. --- Ongelijkheid en herverdeling van vermogens en inkomens. Inkomensbeleid. --- Psychologie. --- ECONOMICS/General --- COGNITIVE SCIENCES/Psychology/General --- 330.01 --- Behavioral economics --- Behavioural economics --- Psychologie --- Levenswijze en levensstandaard. Levensminimum. sociale indicatoren (Studiën) --- Gecontroleerde economie. Geleide economie. Welvaarststaat. Algemeenheden --- Ongelijkheid en herverdeling van vermogens en inkomens. Inkomensbeleid --- Happiness - Economic aspects --- Economics - Psychological aspects --- #SBIB:17H20 --- #SBIB:33H000 --- 316.613.4 --- 316.613.4 Sociale gevoelens. Emoties --- Sociale gevoelens. Emoties --- Sociale wijsbegeerte: algemeen --- Economie: algemene werken --- Economie. --- Geluk. --- Welzijn.

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We test the effectiveness of self-help peer groups as a commitment device for precautionary savings, through two randomized field experiments among 2,687 microentrepreneurs in Chile. The first experiment finds that self-help peer groups are a powerful tool to increase savings (the number of deposits grows 3.5-fold and the average savings balance almost doubles). Conversely, a substantially higher interest rate has no effect on most participants. A second experiment tests an alternative delivery mechanism and shows that effects of a similar size can be achieved by holding people accountable through feedback text messages, without any meetings or peer pressure.