![\"\"](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/SmilingMan4.jpg\" "\\"motivated\\"")
What motivates people to work harder: The promise of reward or the threat of penalty?<\/p>\n
A new study co-authored by a Michigan State University business scholar says it\u2019s the carrot \u2013 and not the stick \u2013 that drives productivity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The study, which appears in The Accounting Review<\/em>, challenges previous research that says the threat of penalty is more effective for getting increased effort, said Karen Sedatole, associate professor of accounting in MSU\u2019s Broad College of Business.<\/p>\n \u201cOur findings show what carrots work better than sticks \u2013 in other words, workers respond better to bonuses than penalties,\u201d Sedatole said.<\/p>\n Sedatole authored the study \u2013 titled \u201cSticks and Carrots: The Effect of Contract Frame on Effort in Incomplete Contracts\u201d \u2013 with Margaret Christ of the University of Georgia and Kristy Towry of Emory University.<\/p>\n The researchers conducted a scientific experiment in which participants played the role of supervisor and employee. Some employees were subjected to a bonus program implemented by the supervisor, while others worked under a penalty system.<\/p>\n Employees subjected to the bonus exhibited more effort and this was driven by greater trust in the supervisor. Sedatole said the study is the first to identify this trust factor.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat this means for companies is that employees who receive bonuses for their efforts will work even harder, increasing productivity and potentially bolstering profits<\/strong>,\u201d Sedatole said. \u201cBut those subjected to penalties tend to distrust the supervisor and, because of that, work less hard<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n Examples of penalties in the business world include pay reduction, demotion and sanction or other disciplinary action, such as a salesperson with lower performance getting less territory to work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Michigan State University press release: What motivates people to work harder: The promise of reward or the threat of penalty? A new study co-authored by a Michigan State… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,8],"tags":[59,37,58,143,238,12,102],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3942"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3963,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3942\/revisions\/3963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}