- A-Z
- Jena Economic Resea...
- Volume 9
- What drives motivat...
- Autor(in)
- Erschienen
- 1. Dezember 2015
- Nummer des Discussion-Papers
-
2015-022
- Schlagwort(e)
-
Corporate Social Responsibility
experiment
identity
incentives
labor market
mission
motivated agents
principal agent
- Zusammenfsg.
-
Motivated agents are characterized by increasing their effort if their work generates not only a monetary return for them but also a benefit for a mission they support. While their motivation may stem from working for their preferred (i.e., the `right') mission, it may also be the principal's choice of the right mission (i.e., a mission preference match) that motivates them. We investigate experimentally to what extent these two motivations are driving the effect of a mission on agent effort. We find that agents care not only about the mission as such but also whether the principal shares this mission. Our analysis estimates the additional effect of a mission preference match to be as big as the effect of just working for the right mission. It seems that the full potential of `motivation by mission' is realized only when principals share as well as support the agents' mission, stressing the importance of the economics of identity in labor market settings.
- article pub. typess JER
- Research article
- article languages JER
- Englisch
- JEL-Classification for JER
- C91 - Laboratory, Individual Behavior ; D03 - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles†; J01 - Labor Economics: General ; M14 - Corporate Culture; Social Responsibility ; M52 - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects