POSTPONED: It's not all fun and games: Feedback, purpose and effort

Important Message - this has been postponed and I do not yet have details of when it will rescheduled

The next research seminar presented by the Centre for Research in the Behavioural Sciences (CRIBS) at Nottingham University Business School will be given by Dr Sheheryar Banuri, University of East Anglia. It will take place 1.30pm to 3pm on Thursday 20 February in room C02 Business School South, Jubilee Campus. 

Dr Banuri will be visiting for the entire day and is happy to meet students and discuss shared research interests. The seminar is followed by a workshop on experimental design (from 3.30pm to 4.30pm in the same location). In the workshop, Dr Banuri will use the paper he presented in the seminar to illustrate the process of designing an experiment and provide recommendations on using the techniques used in his paper for future research.

The seminar is free but please register using this link, so that NUBS can order refreshments without unnecessary waste.

Abstract:
Performance feedback is pervasive but its effects are not well-understood.  Why do they vary across individuals?  Do performance effects depend on how feedback is presented?  Using a novel experimental design, we show that the effects of performance feedback do depend on the design of feedback systems, and that feedback effects vary with task motivation, competitive preferences, and extrinsic incentives.  A feedback system that incorporates elaborate point systems, symbolic rewards, relative performance and narrative structure significantly increases effort, but only for those who are task-motivated.  Relative performance feedback, standard in organizations seeking to increase productivity, is effective by itself, but only among those who are task-motivated and have strong preferences for competition. Feedback that explicitly ties individuals’ effort to a larger narrative or purpose also has a significant effect on effort, but more so among the least task-motivated.

Speaker bio:
Dr Sheheryar Banuri is a behavioural development economist and assistant professor at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. His research focuses on motivation, decision-making, and contracting in the public and mission-based sectors. His work has provided policy guidance to the governments of Indonesia, the Philippines, and Burkina Faso. His empirical work has been published in academic journals such as Social Science and Medicine, the European Economic Review, the World Bank Economic Review, and Social Choice and Welfare (among others). He is a co-author of the World Bank’s World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behaviour, and has made contributions to the World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends, and the World Development Report 2017: Governance and the Law. His current projects focus on motivation and incentives of health and education workers, discrimination in health service provision, and behavioural biases of elites.