The incentive effects of performance requirements - A real effort experiment

We test if control exerted through the implementation of a minimum performance requirement has a counterproductive effect on output in a real effort experiment. To identify whether negative responses to control are related to the characteristics of the labor environment, we conduct treatments that induce different degrees of intrinsic motivation among experimental workers and also differ in the possibility for reciprocal reactions. Overall, the minimum performance requirement does not lead to a significant change in the average output level. However, our data indicate undesired effects of control in the dynamics of controlled agents' working performance.