Contextual determinants of reward systems' success: An exploratory study

Data were collected on successful and unsuccessful reward initiatives. The initiatives included new and modified base pay, short- and long-term incent ive, benefits, and perquisite/lifestyle rewards. Initiative success was mea sured on seven factors, and ten conditions were measured for initiative suc cess. Follow-up telephone calls to most respondents provided more detail fo r examples. Analysis suggests that a common set Of criteria can be used to judge the success of different kinds of programs. Surprisingly, success in plan design was not a significant explanatory variable in reaching success on any criterion of rewards initiative success. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.