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Why are Small Firms Different? Managers’ Views
Author(s) -
Agell Jonas
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
the scandinavian journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.725
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1467-9442
pISSN - 0347-0520
DOI - 10.1111/j.0347-0520.2004.00371.x
Subject(s) - incentive , reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , economics , compensation (psychology) , microeconomics , competition (biology) , inequity aversion , labour economics , public economics , social psychology , psychology , inequality , ecology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , biology
Do incentives differ between large and small organizations? Results from a representative survey of compensation managers are used to shed light on the issues. I find that (i) small establishments rely less on pecuniary incentives, and have a significantly more hostile attitude towards incentive schemes based on competition and relative rewards; (ii) large units are more vulnerable to mechanisms of efficiency wages, effects that remain even after controlling for differences in monitoring ability; (iii) large units are more prone to indicate that negative reciprocity is important, and that their employees care about relative pay. I argue that these findings fit with behavioral stories of incentives and motivation, in particular those stressing group interaction effects, inequity aversion and gift exchange.