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Cheating in the workplace: An experimental study of the impact of bonuses and productivity

Author

Listed:
  • Gill, David
  • Prowse, Victoria
  • Vlassopoulos, Michael
Abstract
We use an online real-effort experiment to investigate how bonus-based pay and worker productivity interact with workplace cheating. Firms often use bonus-based compensation plans, such as group bonuses and firm-wide profit sharing, that induce considerable uncertainty in how much workers are paid. Exposing workers to a compensation scheme based on random bonuses makes them cheat more but has no effect on their productivity. We also find that more productive workers behave more dishonestly. These results are consistent with workers’ cheating behavior responding to the perceived fairness of their employer’s compensation scheme.

Suggested Citation

  • Gill, David & Prowse, Victoria & Vlassopoulos, Michael, 2013. "Cheating in the workplace: An experimental study of the impact of bonuses and productivity," MPRA Paper 50166, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:50166
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bonus; compensation; cheating; dishonesty; lying; employee crime; productivity; slider task; real effort; experiment.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods

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