TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Gall, Thomas
AU  - Hu, Xiaocheng
AU  - Vlassopoulos, Michael
        TI  - Dynamic Incentive Effects of Team Formation: Experimental Evidence
        PY  - 2016/Nov/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 10393
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp10393
        AB  - Optimal team composition has been the focus of exhaustive analysis, academic and otherwise. Yet, much of this analysis has ignored possible dynamic effects: e.g., anticipating that team formation is based on prior performance will affect prior performance. We test this hypothesis in a lab experiment with two stages of a real effort task. Participants first work individually without monetary incentives and are then assigned to teams of two where compensation is based on team performance.
Our results are consistent with a simple investment-cum-matching model: pairing the worst performing individuals with the best yields 20% lower first stage effort than random matching. Pairing the best with the best, however, yields 5% higher first stage effort than random matching. In line with the theory the latter result is more pronounced when the task has less scope for learning-by-doing. Moreover, pairing the best with the best achieves the same effort response as having explicit monetary incentives in the first stage.
        KW  - matching
KW  - team formation
KW  - performance
KW  - dynamic incentives
        ER  -