Small signals of appreciation have a decisive influence on the output and quality of the work of employees. A field experiment of KIT economist Petra Nieken and two colleagues revealed that a combination of performance-oriented piece wage and motivating words increases the performance by 20% and reduces the error rate by 40%.

"Our results are relevant to entrepreneurial practice," Nieken emphasizes. She holds the Chair for Human Resources Management of KIT's Institute of Management. How can staff members be motivated? Theory lists two instruments: Financial incentives, such as bonuses or piece wages, and the capability of executives to motivate their staff members. The question whether and how these two instruments complement, strengthen or weaken each other, however, is not clearly answered by theory. That is why this question was in the focus of the study performed at Bonn University.

In the field experiment, 139 students were given the task to electronically acquire data for a research project. In the study, combination of an appreciation with an extra salary in the amount of about 10% of total wage resulted in a performance increase by 20% and a parallel reduction of the error rate by 40%. "We hoped to obtain such a result, but we did not expect it to be so clear," the KIT scientist says. She also works as an associate professor at the University of Stavanger and has been conducting experimental economics research for ten years now.

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