Timing of kindness : evidence from a field experiment

Axel Ockenfels; Dirk Sliwka; Peter Werner

We conduct a field experiment in a naturally occurring labor environment and track whether the performance of workers responds to unexpected wage increases. Specifically, we investigate how the timing of wage increases affects efforts. We find that workers' performance is about 11% higher for the same total wage when their wage is increased in two steps as opposed to a single increase at the outset. Moreover, workers are more honest and are more willing to do voluntary extra work after surprising wage increases compared to a baseline condition without increases.

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Year of publication:	2014 ; This version: 26 June 2014
Authors:	Ockenfels, Axel ; Sliwka, Dirk ; Werner, Peter
Publisher:	München : CESifo
Subject:	gift exchange \| positive reciprocity \| field experiment \| honesty \| Feldforschung \| Field research \| Experiment \| Austauschtheorie \| Social exchange theory \| Verhaltensökonomik \| Behavioral economics \| Geschenk \| Gifts