Personality Traits and Performance Contracts: Evidence from a Field Experiment among Maternity Care Providers in India

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2017
Volume: 107
Issue: 5
Pages: 506-10

Authors (5)

Katherine Donato (not in RePEc) Grant Miller (not in RePEc) Manoj Mohanan (Duke University) Yulya Truskinovsky (not in RePEc) Marcos Vera-Hernández (University College London (UCL...)

Score contribution per author:

1.609 = (α=2.01 / 5 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We study how agents respond to performance incentives according to key personality traits (conscientiousness and neuroticism) through a field experiment offering financial incentives for improving maternal and neonatal health outcomes to rural Indian doctors. More conscientious providers performed better--but improved less--under performance incentives. The effect of the performance incentives was also smaller for providers with higher levels of neuroticism. Our results contribute to a growing body of empirical research on heterogeneous responses to incentives and have implications for worker selection.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:5:p:506-10
Journal Field
General
Author Count
5
Added to Database
2026-01-26