| What does it mean to be responsible for someone? The term responsibility brings to mind parental duties, the obligation of parents to feed and protect their children. Yet, responsibility is not restricted to childcare. Professors can feel responsible for their grown students and the rich can feel responsible for the poor. Intuition suggests that responsibility can have powerful effects, creating strong incentives for pro-social behavior.;While numerous papers have shown some level of willingness to give to others in a dictator game, this redistribution of windfall gains is only the tip of the iceberg for pro-social behavior. Other papers have also shown that people are willing to exert effort on behalf of others. I propose that under certain conditions, "social incentives" for working on behalf of others whose welfare they are responsible for can be even more motivating than traditional pay-for-performance incentives. By making a worker directly responsible for another person's welfare, a strong incentive is created to avoid disappointing that other person. What is considered disappointing is generally dictated by social norms and beliefs about others' expectations, but uncertainty in these beliefs can necessitate that the worker maximize efforts on the other's behalf.;In a series of six experiments, I explore conditions under which social incentives may be more motivating than direct pay-for-performance incentives. I find that high performance standards motivate high performance under direct incentives but that social incentives generate a consistent level of motivation that does not vary by performance standard. I also find that social incentives, but not direct incentives, are more motivating under conditions designed to increase feelings of responsibility toward the other person or increase the cost of disappointing the other person.;However, I find that social incentives are only weakly stronger than direct incentives and only under limited conditions. Furthermore, I find little support for disappointment aversion as a mechanism. I discuss some potential reasons for the lack of support and suggest some potential alternatives. I conclude by discussing obstacles and benefits to implementing social incentives in organizations. |
