Incentive payment and nonmanagerial productivity: An interrupted time series analysis of magnitude and trend

Abstract Using an interrupted time series design, this paper examined long-term changes in the magnitude and trend of productivity following the introduction of nonmanagerial incentive payment. Analyses of three 114-month data series from a unionized iron foundry revealed a strong asymptotic increase in productivity without corresponding increases in labor costs or employee grievances. These findings substantiated a power-curve trend in productivity, implying that wage incentives might stimulate employees to learn efficacious task behaviors, and suggesting that incentive payment's long-term productive efficacy might be greater than many of the short-term gains reported in prior research

[1]  G. Latham,et al.  DESIGNING INCENTIVE PLANS FOR UNIONIZED EMPLOYEES: A COMPARISON OF CONTINUOUS AND VARIABLE RATIO REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES1 , 1978 .

[2]  R. Slavin.  Classroom Reward Structure: An Analytical and Practical Review , 1975 .

[3]  Robert D. Pritchard,et al.  The influence of goal setting and financial incentives on task performance , 1973 .

[4]  D. Bakan,et al.  A generalization of Sidman's results on group and individual functions, and a criterion. , 1954, Psychological bulletin.

[5]  E. A. Locke.  Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives , 1968 .

[6]  G. Latham,et al.  Consequences of reinforcement schedules and incentive magnitudes for employee performance: Problems encountered in an industrial setting. , 1975 .

[7]  William J. Goode,et al.  Work Incentives in a Self-Determined Group , 1951 .

[8]  R. H. Franke,et al.  The Hawthorne experiments: First statistical interpretation. , 1978 .

[9]  M. Sidman.  A note on functional relations obtained from group data. , 1952, Psychological bulletin.

[10]  Miles S. Rogers,et al.  Testing portions of the Porter and Lawler model regarding the motivational role of pay. , 1971 .

[11]  Edwin A. Locke,et al.  Goals and intentions as mediators of the effects of monetary incentives on behavior. , 1968 .

[12]  Adams Js.  Towards an understanding of inequity , 1963 .

[13]  U. Renker.  [Motivation for work]. , 1975, Zeitschrift fur die gesamte Hygiene und ihre Grenzgebiete.

[14]  G. R. Oldham,et al.  A Comparison of Group and Individual Incentive Plans , 1977 .

[15]  D. W. Leonard,et al.  The effects of varying schedules of reinforcement on human task performance , 1976 .

[16]  George E. P. Box,et al.  Intervention Analysis with Applications to Economic and Environmental Problems , 1975 .

[17]  G. Latham,et al.  THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PERFORMANCE INCENTIVES UNDER CONTINUOUS AND VARIABLE RATIO SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT , 1976 .

[18]  William B. Stevenson,et al.  Managerial Compensation Based on Organizational Performance: A Time Series Analysis of the Effects of Merit Pay , 1985 .

[19]  R. Snelgar.  THE COMPARABILITY OF JOB EVALUATION METHODS IN SUPPLYING APPROXIMATELY SIMILAR CLASSIFICATIONS IN RATING ONE JOB SERIES , 1983 .

[20]  H. F. Rothe.  Output rates among welders: Productivity and consistency following removal of a financial incentive system. , 1970 .

[21]  E. Lawler,et al.  Employee reactions to a pay incentive plan. , 1973 .

[22]  Alex Carey,et al.  The Hawthorne Studies: A Radical Criticism , 1967 .

[23]  Estes Wk.  The problem of inference from curves based on group data. , 1956 .

[24]  Hilde Behrend,et al.  The Effort Bargain , 1957 .

[25]  R. Kopelman.  ORGANIZATIONAL CONTROL SYSTEM RESPONSIVENESS, EXPECTANCY THEORY CONSTRUCTS, AND WORK MOTIVATION: SOME INTERRELATIONS AND CAUSAL CONNECTIONS , 1976 .

[26]  H. Behrend.  Financial Incentives as the Expression of a System of Beliefs , 1959 .

[27]  H. Scheffé.  Practical Solutions of the Behrens-Fisher Problem , 1970 .

[28]  L. L. Cummings,et al.  Expectancy theory and operant conditioning predictions of performance under variable ratio and continuous schedules of reinforcement , 1975 .

[29]  J. Feldman,et al.  Alternatives to optimization in expectancy theory. , 1976 .

[30]  J. S. Adams,et al.  Inequity In Social Exchange , 1965 .

[31]  Robert L. Hamblin,et al.  Interdependence, differential rewarding, and productivity. , 1963 .

[32]  Robert D. Pritchard,et al.  Effects of perceptions of equity and inequity on worker performance and satisfaction. , 1972 .

[33]  Philip J. DeLeo,et al.  A field experimental test of expectancy-valence incentive motivation techniques , 1976 .

[34]  A. Sykes.  Economic Interest and the Hawthorne Researches , 1965 .

[35]  G. Yukl,et al.  Effectiveness of pay incentives under variable ratio and continuous reinforcement schedules. , 1972 .

[36]  G. Latham,et al.  Employee reaction to continuous and variable ratio reinforcement schedules involving a monetary incentive. , 1982 .

[37]  H. Miller,et al.  Motivation, behavior, and performance: A closer examination of goal setting and monetary incentives. , 1978 .

[38]  D. P. Schwab.  Impact of alternative compensation systems on pay valence and instrumentality perceptions. , 1973 .

[39]  Elliott Jaques,et al.  The Social and Psychological Impact of a Change in Method of Wage Payment , 1951 .

[40]  J. Terborg.  The Motivational Components of Goal Setting. , 1976 .

[41]  Ronald Lippitt,et al.  A Laboratory Study of Behavioral Contagion , 1951 .

[42]  W. Reitman,et al.  Performance as a function of motive strength and expectancy of goal-attainment. , 1956, Journal of abnormal psychology.