‘You are free to choose . . . are you?’ Organisational punishment as a productivity incentive in the social science literature

Abstract

This paper investigates the theoretical and empirical relationships between organisational punishment and productivity. We do so by highlighting the contributions of two academic fields to this topic: management and economics. We underscore the many common theoretical and empirical grounds across management and economics. We heighten, in particular, how motivation and learning theories have contributed to the development of both theoretical and empirical research on this topic. This paper also argues that this debate could be significantly advanced if insights stemming from industrial relations and labour process theory were also considered since these disciplines have traditionally focussed on macro-issues such as how changes in the economic/institutional contexts may affect the likelihood that organisations will resort to punishment. In order to foster future research on this topic, three research themes were developed: a) freedom of choice and the role of contract completeness; b) perception of punishment, monitoring, and productivity; and c) punishment, productivity and exogenous variables.

The unexpected power of negative awards

“…Although punishment is widely used in many real‐world settings, it tends to be stigmatized as a negative technique in management with detrimental effects on employee productivity. In contrast, some labor economists posit beneficial effects on productivity (McNamara et al, 2021). McNamara et al (2021) explain this divergence by the conceptual perspectives adopted, namely, learning and motivation theories in management, and agency and prospect theories in labor economics.…”

“…In contrast, some labor economists posit beneficial effects on productivity (McNamara et al, 2021). McNamara et al (2021) explain this divergence by the conceptual perspectives adopted, namely, learning and motivation theories in management, and agency and prospect theories in labor economics. Some distinctions used in the punishment literature related to the workplace can be usefully applied to negative awards.…”

“…Some distinctions used in the punishment literature related to the workplace can be usefully applied to negative awards. Examples are contingent versus non‐contingent administration, formal versus informal rules, just versus unjust punishment or intent ascribed to the punisher (McNamara et al, 2021 and references therein). These issues have clear implications for the analysis of changes induced by negative awards.…”

Factores clave en la evaluación de la productividad: estudio de caso

“…Otra faceta dentro de los estudios y quizás poco explorado en la literatura, es la relación que tiene la productividad con la motivación. El trabajo de McNamara et al (2021) indica la dicotomía entre premio y castigo. Este último tiene un impacto negativo en la productividad, al reducir la motivación intrínseca y aumentar la rotación de empleados.…”

Performance Appraisal Model for Optimizing Teacher Incentive and Constraint Mechanisms by Random Matrix

“…Teachers are the core factor in the development of colleges and universities, and the key force to promote the development of colleges and universities, and their role has received more attention as the importance of colleges and universities increases [1]. However, whether its role and work results are signi cant should not be limited to theoretical predictions, but must be assessed through speci c measures.…”