Differential Effects of Incentive Motivators on Work Performance

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® Academy of Management fournal 2001, Vol. 4, No. 3, 580-590. DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF INCENTIVE MOTIVATORS ON WORK PERFORMANCE ALEXANDER D. STApCOVIG University of Wisconsin-Madison FRED LUTHANS University of Nebraska In this field experiment, we first compared the performance effects of money systematically administered through the organizational hehavior modification (O.B. Mod.) model and routine pay for performance and then compared the effects of O.B. Mod.administered money, social recognition, and performance feedback. The money intervention hased on the O.B. Mod. outperformed routine pay for performance (performance increase = 37% vs. 11%) and also had stronger effects on performance than social recognition (24%) and performance feedback (20%). Although behavioral management, as a systematic approach to increasing employee effectiveness, was formulated about 25 years ago (e.g., Luthans & Kreitner, 1975), organizations are generally not using contingent incentive motivators to manage workers' day-to-day task-related behaviors and to improve productivity (Davis-Blake & Pfeffer, 1989; Ilgen, Major, & Tower, 1994). Moreover, the use of various incentives to enhance work performance is mostly ignored or, at best, assumed to be handled with existing pay, benefits, or year-end profit sharing or bonus plans (Kerr, 1999; Stajkovic & Luthans, 1997), Among the models proposed within the conceptual framework of behavioral management (e,g., Scott & Podsakoff, 1985), the organizational behavior modification (O.B, Mod,) model (Luthans & Kreitner, 1985) has been frequently used to foster the effectiveness of various incentive motivators in different types of organizations (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1997), Based on the principles of behavior modification (Bandura, 1969), the 0,B, Mod, model provides a five-step framework for identifying, measuring, analyzing, contingently

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