Peer Influence in the Workplace: Evidence from an Enterprise Digital Platform

NET Institute Working Paper No. 18-08

MIS Quarterly, Forthcoming

31 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2018 Last revised: 11 Feb 2024

See all articles by Haoyuan Liu

Haoyuan Liu

University of Texas at Austin

Wen Wen

University of Texas at Austin - McCombs School of Business

Andrew B. Whinston

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Information, Risk and Operations Management

Stephen He

The University of Texas at San Antonio - Alvarez College of Business

Date Written: February 10, 2024

Abstract

We investigate how the sharing of peer success on an enterprise digital platform influences other workers’ work effort. We focus on one important advantage that organizations gain from using digital platforms—the ability to regulate the content of the messages by incorporating various elements about the peers. Specifically, we examine two types of peer success messages: messages that highlight a peer’s effort (i.e., effort-focused success messages) and messages that highlight a peer’s ability (i.e., ability-focused success messages). Using data from a group of sales workers in an information technology service company, as well as an experiment with online participants, we find that both ability-focused success messages and effort-focused success messages can motivate workers to work harder, although we observe important heterogeneity in the responses. In particular, a worker’s response to effort-focused messages remains strong regardless of social distance between the worker and the peers. In contrast, a worker’s response to ability-focused messages is stronger when the messages praise the ability of peers who are socially close, but not that of peers who are socially distant.

Keywords: peer success, work effort, productivity, peer influence, online organizational communication, peer pressure, difference-in-differences

JEL Classification: J24, L86, M54

Suggested Citation

Liu, Haoyuan and Wen, Wen and Whinston, Andrew B. and He, Stephen, Peer Influence in the Workplace: Evidence from an Enterprise Digital Platform (February 10, 2024). NET Institute Working Paper No. 18-08, MIS Quarterly, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3267050 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3267050

Haoyuan Liu

University of Texas at Austin ( email )

2317 Speedway
Austin, TX Texas 78712
United States

Wen Wen (Contact Author)

University of Texas at Austin - McCombs School of Business ( email )

2110 Speedway Stop B6500
Austin, TX 78712
United States

Andrew B. Whinston

University of Texas at Austin - Department of Information, Risk and Operations Management ( email )

CBA 5.202
Austin, TX 78712
United States
512-471-8879 (Phone)

Stephen He

The University of Texas at San Antonio - Alvarez College of Business ( email )

One UTSA Circle
San Antonio, TX 78249
United States

HOME PAGE: http://business.utsa.edu/faculty/profiles/he-stephen.html

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