Date of Award
8-2013
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Dr. Heather M. McGee
Second Advisor
Dr. Douglas Johnson
Third Advisor
Dr. Alyce Dickinson
Keywords
incentives, social norms, normative, influence, lottery, behavior management
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
While social norms have been a popular area of study among social psychologists, they have yet to receive much consideration from an Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) standpoint. Much of OBM research has focused on consequences and the utilization of incentives to improve organizational performance. Such research has shown incentive systems to have sustaining, long-term effects on behaviors. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the impact of normative messages and lottery incentives on organizational performance. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions: a) Standard Message with Lottery Incentive, b) Standard Message without Lottery Incentive, c) Normative Message with Lottery Incentive, and d) Normative Message without Lottery Incentive. The covariate was the number of correctly completed checks during the baseline session. The present study did not obtain any statistically significant differences on productivity between the four conditions. However, additional research on normative messages in conjunction with lottery incentives is needed in order to better understand the potential of these variables on workplace performance. Suggestions to enhance methodology in future research are outlined.
Recommended Citation
Conard, Anna L., "Using Normative Messages and Incentives to Improve Organizational Performance" (2013). Masters Theses. 171.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/171