%0 Report
        %A Gauri, Varun
%A Jamison, Julian C.
%A Mazar, Nina
%A Ozier, Owen
        %T Motivating Bureaucrats through Social Recognition: External Validity — A Tale of Two States
        %D 2019
        %8 2019 Mar
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 12251
        %U https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp12251
        %X Bureaucratic performance is a crucial determinant of economic growth, but little real-world evidence exists on how to improve it, especially in resource-constrained settings. We conducted a field experiment of a social recognition intervention to improve record keeping in health facilities in two Nigerian states, replicating the intervention - implemented by a single organization - on bureaucrats performing identical tasks. Social recognition improved performance in one state but had no effect in the other, highlighting both the potential benefits and also the sometimes-limited generalizability of behavioral interventions. Furthermore, differences in facility-level observables did not explain cross-state differences in impacts, suggesting that it may often be difficult to predict external validity.
        %K behavioral insights
%K bureaucracy
%K external validity
%K RCT
%K nudges
%K healthcare