Incentivizing Creativity: A Large-Scale Experiment with Tournaments and Gifts

51 Pages Posted: 9 May 2016

See all articles by Christiane Bradler

Christiane Bradler

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Susanne Neckermann

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Economics (ESE)

Arne Jonas Warnke

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 2016

Abstract

This paper reports the results from a large-scale laboratory experiment investigating the impact of tournament incentives and wage gifts on creativity. We find that tournaments substantially increase creative output, with no evidence for crowding out of intrinsic motivation. By comparison, wage gifts are ineffective. Additional treatments show that it is the uncertain mapping between effort and output that inhibits reciprocity. This uncertainty is prevalent in creative and other complex tasks. Our findings provide a rationale for the frequent use of tournaments when seeking to motivate creative output.

Keywords: creativity, incentives, tournament, reciprocity, experiment, crowding-out

JEL Classification: C91, D03, J33, M52

Suggested Citation

Bradler, Christiane and Neckermann, Susanne and Warnke, Arne Jonas, Incentivizing Creativity: A Large-Scale Experiment with Tournaments and Gifts (April 2016). ZEW - Centre for European Economic Research Discussion Paper No. 16-040, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2777556 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2777556

Christiane Bradler (Contact Author)

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

Susanne Neckermann

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) ( email )

Arne Jonas Warnke

ZEW – Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research ( email )

P.O. Box 10 34 43
L 7,1
D-68034 Mannheim, 68034
Germany

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