The effects of group and individual monetary incentives on productivity oftelephone interviewers

The relative effectiveness of three types of monetary incentive contingenci es was estimated among telephone research company employees. Six college-ag ed telephone interviewers (5 females, 1 male) participated in the study. Th e baseline condition consisted of monetary rewards being delivered to the t op performer(s) of each shift. In one experimental condition, individuals w ere paid monetary incentives if their performance rate exceeded a standard rate set by the supervisor. In the other experimental condition, individual s were paid monetary incentives if their group's performance met or exceede d a group performance standard set by the group's supervisor. Effects of in centive contingencies on interviewer completion rates were investigated by varying participants' exposure to experimental and baseline incentive condi tions within a multi-element design. Results indicated that both individual and group incentives produced a greater number of call completions per hou r compared to call completions observed under the baseline incentive contin gencies while the highest productivity rates were observed under the indivi dual incentive contingencies.