Improving Workers' Performance in Small Firms: A Randomized Experiment on Goal Setting in Ghana

Elena Cettolin; Kym Cole; Patricio S. Dalton

doi:10.1162/rest_a_01537

Improving Workers' Performance in Small Firms: A Randomized Experiment on Goal Setting in Ghana

Elena Cettolin¹; Kym Cole²; Patricio S. Dalton³

¹ Tilburg University, Department of Economics and CentER, Warandelaan 2, 5037 AB, Tilburg, The Netherlands [email protected] · ² BRAC Institute of Governance and Development. SK Center, TB Gate, Mohakhali, Dhaka Bangladesh 1212 [email protected] · ³ Tilburg University, Department of Economics and CentER, Warandelaan 2, 5037 AB, Tilburg, The Netherlands [email protected]

The Review of Economics and Statistics 2024 open access

Abstract We report the results of a cost-effective intervention to improve workers' performance in small cassava processing firms in Ghana. We train workers to track their daily output and then randomly assign a sub-sample to set daily production goals. Achieving or missing a goal does not carry monetary consequences. Goal setting increases workers' output by 16%, their productivity by 8% and the average product of labor in firms by 13%. Goal setting is particularly effective for piece-rate workers, increasing their output by 32% and productivity by 24%. While not conclusive, evidence suggests that goals serve as a self-regulation device.

DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01537
Pages: 1-45
Language: en
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