We study the effect of recognition on performance with a field experiment involving first-year undergraduate students … that conformance to performance norm is the most likely behavioral mechanism behind our findings. …

We study the impact of and reward to middle management ability using data from 245 stores of a nationwide retailer. The … company scores six broad areas of management practice, the most important of which turns out to be "commercial awareness … managers do not receive higher pay all else equal, which implies that middle management ability is not fully tradable. …