Publications

February 1985
Article

Motivation and Creativity: Effects of Motivational Orientation on Creative Writers

By: T. M. Amabile

72 members of the college community who identified themselves as actively involved in creative writing participated in individual laboratory sessions, in which they were asked to write 2 brief poems, to investigate the hypothesis that intrinsic motivation is conducive... View Details

Keywords: Social Psychology; Creativity; Motivation and Incentives; Performance; Personal Characteristics; Situation or Environment

2022
Working Paper

Motivated Errors

By: Christine L Exley and Judd B. Kessler

In three sets of experiments involving 5,432 subjects, we show that agents make more errors when doing so allows them to justify selfish behavior. We show that errors relating to addition arise when they can help to justify selfishness but are eliminated when selfish... View Details

Keywords: Information; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

SSRN

1998
Working Paper

CEO Incentives and Firm Size

By: Brian Hall and George P. Baker

What determines CEO incentives? A confusion exists among both academics and practitioners about how to measure the strength of CEO incentives, and how to reconcile the enormous differences in pay sensitivities between executives in large and small firms. We show that... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Motivation and Incentives; Executive Compensation; Size; Management Systems

Research Summary

Learning Motives

In another research stream, Professor Myers probes the underlying reasons that motivate people to learn. He has confirmed a conceptual framework that identifies four distinct learning motives that vary to the extent that they are intrinsic, extrinsic, and self- or... View Details

Keywords: Learning

18 Mar 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Matching Firms, Managers, and Incentives

Keywords: by Oriana Bandiera, Luigi Guiso, Andrea Prat & Raffaella Sadun

2024
Working Paper

Corporate Culture Homogeneity and Top Executive Incentive Design: Evidence from CEO Compensation Contracts

By: Dennis Campbell, Ruidi Shang and Zhifang Zhang

We examine how corporate cultures characterized by high degrees of homogeneity in the underlying values and beliefs of organizational members are related to the design of CEO incentive compensation contracts. We argue that culture homogeneity within firms lowers... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Culture; Compensation Design; Accounting; Management Control; Incentive Systems; Organizational Culture; Job Design and Levels; Governance; Executive Compensation; Motivation and Incentives

29 Mar 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Government Incentives and Financial Intermediaries: The Case of Chinese Sell-Side Analysts

Keywords: by Sheng Cao, Xianjie He, Charles C.Y. Wang, and Huifang Yin; Financial Services

April 1999 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Motive Communications

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Marco Iansiti, Myra M. Hart, William W Chan and Find Findsen

The founders of Motive Communications, Inc., a recent start-up dedicated to reinventing the support chain involved in the delivery of information technology support services, put in place a development process hinged on extensive customer feedback. As part of this, a... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Relationship Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Information Technology Industry

Educators

autumn 1993
Article

Motivational Synergy: Toward New Conceptualizations of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation in the Workplace

By: T. M. Amabile

The foundation for a model of motivational synergy is presented. Building upon but going beyond previous conceptualizations, the model outlines the ways in which intrinsic motivation (which arises from the intrinsic value of the work for the individual) might interact... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Theory; Creativity; Situation or Environment; Organizational Culture

August 2020
Article

Do Physician Incentives Increase Patient Medication Adherence?

By: Edward Kong, John Beshears, David Laibson, Brigitte Madrian, Kevin Volpp, George Loewenstein, Jonathan Kolstad and James J. Choi

We conducted a randomized experiment (911 primary care practices and 8,935 nonadherent patients) to test the effect of paying physicians for increasing patient medication adherence in three drug classes: diabetes medication, antihypertensives, and statins. We measured... View Details

Keywords: Health Economics; Medication Adherence; Physician Payment Incentives; Primary Care; Quality Improvement; Health Care and Treatment; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior

Research Summary

Financial Incentives

My research examines how the performance effects of internal governance and the design of compensation vary by managerial position. For example, I document links between innovation and stock options for corporate R&D heads;... View Details

Article

Managing and Motivating Engineers

By: Michael Beer

22 Oct 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Motivate Me, Please

governments to get citizens to do the right thing. Hiding From Managers Can Increase Your Productivity Forget management by walking around. Decreasing workplace transparency can increase worker productivity. Money and Quotas View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Designing Incentives

By: V.G. Narayanan

Professor Narayanan is studying how to design effective incentive systems for executives and members of the Board of Directors. View Details

January 2015
Article

Are Incentives Without Expertise Sufficient? Evidence from Fortune 500 Firms

By: Emilie R. Feldman and Cynthia A. Montgomery

Agency theory predicts that incentives will align agents' interests with those of principals. However, the resource-based view suggests that to be effective, the incentive to deliver must be paired with the ability to deliver. Using Fortune 500 boards as an... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Corporate Governance; Incentives; Expertise; Motivation and Incentives; Governing and Advisory Boards; Experience and Expertise; Agency Theory

2016
Working Paper

Infrastructure, Incentives and Institutions

By: Nava Ashraf, Edward L. Glaeser and Giacomo A.M. Ponzetto

Cities generate negative, as well as positive, externalities; addressing those externalities requires both infrastructure and institutions. Providing clean water and removing refuse requires water and sewer pipes, but the urban poor are often unwilling to pay for the... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Urban Development; Organizations; City; Infrastructure; Zambia

2011
Dictionary Entry

Motivation

By: R. Conti and T. Amabile

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Creativity

May 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Background Note

Incentive Strategy II: Executive Compensation and Ownership Structure

By: Brian J. Hall

This case analyzes incentive strategy from the perspective of a company's board of directors and owners. The focus is the role that executive compensation and ownership structure (the composition of, and financial structure between, a company's owners) play in... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Ownership; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Perspective; Strategy; Value Creation

Educators

January 1990 (Revised November 1990)
Background Note

Note on Compensation and Incentive Systems

Provides a brief analysis of issues in the design of an effective compensation system, with particular emphasis on incentives. Provides an analytic framework for thinking about compensation. Topics covered include the composition of the pay package, fringe benefits,... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Compensation and Benefits

Educators