nep-hrm New Economics Papers
on Human Capital and Human Resource Management
Issue of 2024‒07‒08
four papers chosen by
Patrick Kampkötter, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen


  1. Perceived Legitimacy and Motivation Effects of Authority By Herz, Holger; Zihlmann, Christian
  2. Generative AI Enhances Team Performance and Reduces Need for Traditional Teams By Ning Li; Huaikang Zhou; Kris Mikel-Hong
  3. Chief for a Day: Elite Capture and Management Performance in a Field Experiment in Sierra Leone By Erwin Bulte; Andreas Kontoleon; John List; Ty Turley; Maarten Voors
  4. Sleep: Educational Impact and Habit Formation By Osea Giuntella; Silvia Saccardo; Sally Sadoff

  1. By: Herz, Holger (University of Fribourg, Switzerland); Zihlmann, Christian
    Abstract: Organizational structures are an important determinant of individual incentives and thus individual motivation in organizations. We study whether their effects on individual motivation go beyond incentives and how they relate to the perceived legitimacy of organizational structure. To this end, we design a laboratory experiment in which we exogenously manipulate the organizational structure in a way that leaves the incentives of all individuals unaffected, but changes the perceived legitimacy of the organizational structure. Our data show that organizational structure indeed affects behavior beyond monetary incentive effects and that the observed changes are significantly associated with changes in perceived legitimacy..
    Keywords: Legitimacy, Organization, Motivation
    JEL: D01 D23 D91 M5
    Date: 2024–02–01
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fri:fribow:fribow00533&r=
  2. By: Ning Li; Huaikang Zhou; Kris Mikel-Hong
    Abstract: Recent advancements in generative artificial intelligence (AI) have transformed collaborative work processes, yet the impact on team performance remains underexplored. Here we examine the role of generative AI in enhancing or replacing traditional team dynamics using a randomized controlled experiment with 435 participants across 122 teams. We show that teams augmented with generative AI significantly outperformed those relying solely on human collaboration across various performance measures. Interestingly, teams with multiple AIs did not exhibit further gains, indicating diminishing returns with increased AI integration. Our analysis suggests that centralized AI usage by a few team members is more effective than distributed engagement. Additionally, individual-AI pairs matched the performance of conventional teams, suggesting a reduced need for traditional team structures in some contexts. However, despite this capability, individual-AI pairs still fell short of the performance levels achieved by AI-assisted teams. These findings underscore that while generative AI can replace some traditional team functions, more comprehensively integrating AI within team structures provides superior benefits, enhancing overall effectiveness beyond individual efforts.
    Date: 2024–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2405.17924&r=
  3. By: Erwin Bulte; Andreas Kontoleon; John List; Ty Turley; Maarten Voors
    Abstract: We use a field experiment in Sierra Leone to examine how the identity of the manager influences rent seeking and performance in participatory development projects. Specifically, we vary the composition of a committee responsible for implementing a development project-local elites or randomly selected villagers. The design is unique in that it permits us to explore the effectiveness of two alternative local governance modalities and the extent of elite capture in community projects. We find little evidence that local elites capture project resources. We do observe they are better managers of development projects. Improved performance covaries with a proxy for power of the local chief.
    Date: 2023
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feb:natura:00789&r=
  4. By: Osea Giuntella; Silvia Saccardo; Sally Sadoff
    Abstract: There is growing evidence on the importance of sleep for productivity, but little is known about the impact of interventions targeting sleep. In a field experiment among U.S. university students, we show that incentives for sleep increase both sleep and academic performance. Motivated by theories of cue-based habit formation, our primary intervention couples personalized bedtime reminders with morning feedback and immediate rewards for sleeping at least seven hours on weeknights. The intervention increases the share of nights with at least seven hours of sleep by 26 percent and average weeknight sleep by an estimated 19 minutes during a four-week treatment period, with persistent effects of about eight minutes per night during a one to five-week post-treatment period. Comparisons to secondary treatments show that immediate incentives have larger impacts on sleep than delayed incentives or reminders and feedback alone during the treatment period, but do not have statistically distinguishable impacts on longer-term sleep habits in the post-treatment period. We estimate that immediate incentives improve average semester course performance by 0.075--0.088 grade points, a 0.10--0.11 standard deviation increase. Our results demonstrate that incentives to sleep can be a cost-effective tool for improving educational outcomes.
    JEL: C93 I1 I20
    Date: 2024–06
    URL: https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32550&r=

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