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Fields Changed

Registration

Field Before After
Study Withdrawn No
Intervention Completion Date April 30, 2015
Data Collection Complete Yes
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization) 999 workers
Was attrition correlated with treatment status? No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations 999 workers
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms 999 workers randomized to peers by cycle day
Public Data URL https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CAXO8Y
Is there a restricted access data set available on request? No
Program Files Yes
Program Files URL https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/CAXO8Y
Data Collection Completion Date April 30, 2015
Is data available for public use? Yes
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Papers

Field Before After
Paper Abstract This paper studies workplace peer effects by randomly varying work assignments at a tea estate in Malawi. We find that increasing mean peer ability by 10 percent raises productivity by 0.3 percent. This effect is driven by the responses of women. Neither production nor compensation externalities cause the effect because workers receive piece rates and do not work in teams. Additional analyses provide no support for learning or socialization as mechanisms. Instead, peer effects appear to operate through “motivation”: given the choice to be reassigned, most workers prefer working near high-ability co-workers because these peers motivate them to work harder.
Paper Citation Brune, L., Chyn, E., & Kerwin, J. (2022). Peers and Motivation at Work Evidence from a Firm Experiment in Malawi*. Journal of Human Resources, 0919-10416R2. https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.57.4.0919-10416R2
Paper URL https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.57.4.0919-10416R2
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