Social Networks and Peer Effects at Works

40 Pages Posted: 29 Aug 2013

See all articles by Julie Beugnot

Julie Beugnot

Université Laval

Bernard Fortin

Université Laval - Département d'Économique; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Guy Lacroix

Laval University - Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organization (CIRANO)

Marie Claire Villeval

GATE, CNRS

Date Written: August 2013

Abstract

This paper extends the standard work effort model by allowing workers to interact through networks. We investigate experimentally whether peer performances and peer contextual effects influence individual performances. Two types of network are considered. Participants in Recursive networks are paired with participants who played previously in isolation. In Simultaneous networks, participants interact in real-time along an undirected line. Mean peer effects are identified in both cases. Individual performances increase with peer performances in the recursive network. In the simultaneous network, endogenous peer effects vary according to gender: they are large for men but not statistically different from zero for women.

Keywords: peer effects, social networks, work effort, piece rate, experiment

JEL Classification: C91, J16, J24, J31, M52

Suggested Citation

Beugnot, Julie and Fortin, Bernard and Lacroix, Guy and Villeval, Marie Claire, Social Networks and Peer Effects at Works (August 2013). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2317769 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2317769

Julie Beugnot (Contact Author)

Université Laval ( email )

2214 Pavillon J-A. DeSeve
Quebec, Quebec G1K 7P4
Canada

Bernard Fortin

Université Laval - Département d'Économique ( email )

2325 Rue de l'Université
Ste-Foy, Quebec G1K 7P4 G1K 7P4
Canada
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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Germany

Guy Lacroix

Laval University - Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis on Organization (CIRANO) ( email )

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Montreal H3C 3J7, Quebec
Canada

Marie Claire Villeval

GATE, CNRS ( email )

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France
+33 472 86 60 79 (Phone)
+33 472 86 60 90 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://sites.google.com/view/marie-claire-villeval

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