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Peers at work : Evidence from the lab

Van Veldhuizen, Roel LU orcid ; Oosterbeek, Hessel and Sonnemans, Joep (2018) In PLoS ONE 13(2).
Abstract

This paper reports the results of a lab experiment designed to study the role of observability for peer effects in the setting of a simple production task. In our experiment, participants in the role of workers engage in a team real-effort task. We vary whether they can observe, or be observed by, one of their co-workers. In contrast to earlier findings from the field, we find no evidence that low-productivity workers perform better when they are observed by high-productivity co-workers. Instead, our results imply that peer effects in our experiment are heterogeneous, with some workers reciprocating a high-productivity co-worker but others taking the opportunity to free ride.

Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
volume
13
issue
2
article number
e0192038
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:29408863
  • scopus:85041489712
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0192038
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
d119ed4c-f350-454c-8dd9-c431986af71d
date added to LUP
2019-04-08 14:37:40
date last changed
2024-07-09 09:37:29
@article{d119ed4c-f350-454c-8dd9-c431986af71d,
  abstract     = {{<p>This paper reports the results of a lab experiment designed to study the role of observability for peer effects in the setting of a simple production task. In our experiment, participants in the role of workers engage in a team real-effort task. We vary whether they can observe, or be observed by, one of their co-workers. In contrast to earlier findings from the field, we find no evidence that low-productivity workers perform better when they are observed by high-productivity co-workers. Instead, our results imply that peer effects in our experiment are heterogeneous, with some workers reciprocating a high-productivity co-worker but others taking the opportunity to free ride.</p>}},
  author       = {{Van Veldhuizen, Roel and Oosterbeek, Hessel and Sonnemans, Joep}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Peers at work : Evidence from the lab}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192038}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0192038}},
  volume       = {{13}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}