"Fit" - field experimental evidence on sorting, incentives and creative worker performance

"Fit" - field experimental evidence on sorting, incentives and creative worker performance

by Kevin J. Boudreau

Part of Working paper / Harvard Business School -- 11-107

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We present the results of a 10-day field experiment in which over 500 elite software developers prepared solutions to the same computational algorithmic problem. Participants were divided into two groups with identical skills distributions and exposed to the same competitive institutional setting. The "sorted" group was composed of individuals who preferred the competitive regime instead of a team-based outside option. The "unsorted" group had population-average preferences for working in the regime or the outside option. We find this sorting on this basis of institutional preferences doubled effort and the performance of solutions-controlling for skills, monetary incentives and institutional details.

Discussion questions for "Fit" - field experimental evidence on sorting, incentives and creative worker performance

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  1. 1

    How does the concept of "fit"—matching individuals to the institutional environments they personally prefer—challenge traditional economic views that rely solely on monetary incentives to drive performance?

  2. 2

    Think of a time in your own career or academic life when you felt a strong psychological or cultural "fit" with your environment. How did that alignment impact your motivation and the quality of your work compared to times when the fit was poor?

  3. 3

    The study looks at elite software developers choosing between a competitive regime and a team-based option. How do you think personal definitions of success and failure shape the types of environments we choose to put ourselves in?

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