A talk of interest to COR community…

Thursday, November 14, 2019

PRIDE WITHOUT PREJUDICE: THE UNBEARABLE BURDEN OF UNDER-RECOGNITION

Brittany Bond, PhD Candidate
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management

TIME: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
WHERE: SB1 5100

Corporate Partners Executive Boardroom

ABSTRACT:
Public recognition is a powerful motivator. High status recognition derives its desirability from scarcity. Thus public recognition inevitably invites social comparisons. Since status recognition commonly corresponds with performance and accompanies tangible rewards, it is challenging to isolate pure social comparison costs. Leveraging a natural experiment in a large multinational organization, I provide novel evidence that employees are distinctly sensitive to status recognition beyond any material, career, or reputation concerns. Rather, the preservation of self-image motivates seemingly self-damaging reactions to nominal status under-recognition. When denied status recognition, employees are much more likely to exit the organization, despite receiving higher monetary rewards as recompense for nominal under-recognition. This study demonstrates the serious productivity risks of using status recognition as an employee performance motivator. The analysis, more broadly, holds implications for understanding how status conferral affects motivation and how organizations should manage reward systems.