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Improving workers’ performance in small firms: A randomized experiment on goal setting in Ghana
Cettolin,Elena Cole,Kym Dalton,Patricio
Cettolin,Elena
Cole,Kym
Dalton,Patricio
Abstract
We report the results of a cost-effective intervention to improve workers’ performance in small cassava processing firms in Ghana. We train workers to track their daily output and then randomly assign a sub-sample to set daily production goals. Achieving or missing a goal does not carry monetary consequences. Goal setting increases workers’ output by 16%, their productivity by 8% and the average product of labor in firms by 13%. Goal setting is particularly effective for piece-rate workers, increasing their output by 32% and productivity by 24%. While not conclusive, evidence suggests that goals serve as a selfregulation device
Description
Date
2024-11
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Research Projects
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Journal Issue
Keywords
behavioral constraints, goals setting, management practices, small firms, informal business, O12 - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development, L26 - Entrepreneurship, M20 - General, O31 - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives, O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences ; Diffusion Processes, O35 - Social Innovation, O17 - Formal and Informal Sectors ; Shadow Economy ; Institutional Arrangements, M50 - General, SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals
Citation
Cettolin, E, Cole, K & Dalton, P 2024, 'Improving workers’ performance in small firms : A randomized experiment on goal setting in Ghana', Review of Economics and Statistics. https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_01537