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Worker Stress and Performance Pay: German Survey Evidence

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  • Baktash, Mehrzad B.
  • Heywood, John S.
  • Jirjahn, Uwe

Abstract

While performance pay can benefit firms and workers by increasing productivity and wages, it has also been associated with a deterioration of worker health. The transmission mechanisms for this deterioration remain in doubt. We examine the hypothesis that increased stress is one transmission mechanism. Using unique survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we find performance pay consistently and importantly associates with greater stress even controlling for a long list of economic, social and personality characteristics. It also holds in instrumental variable estimations accounting for the potential endogeneity of performance pay. Moreover, we show that risk tolerance moderates the relationship between performance pay and stress. The risk tolerant receiving performance pay suffer less stress than the risk averse.

Suggested Citation

  • Baktash, Mehrzad B. & Heywood, John S. & Jirjahn, Uwe, 2021. "Worker Stress and Performance Pay: German Survey Evidence," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1000, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:1000
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    3. Baktash, Mehrzad B., 2023. "Overeducation, Performance Pay and Wages: Evidence from Germany," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1327, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Jirjahn, Uwe & Rienzo, Cinzia, 2024. "Working from Home and Performance Pay: Individual or Collective Payment Schemes?," IZA Discussion Papers 17234, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Baktash, Mehrzad B. & Heywood, John S. & Jirjahn, Uwe, 2023. "Does Performance Pay Increase the Risk of Marital Instability?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1305, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Nicole Andelic & Julia Allan & Keith A. Bender & Daniel Powell & Ioannis Theodossiou, 2024. "Performance‐related pay, mental and physiological health," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(1), pages 3-25, January.
    7. Green, Colin P. & Heywood, John S., 2022. "Does Performance Pay Influence Hours of Work?," IZA Discussion Papers 15474, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Chadi, Cornelia, 2023. "Too stressed to sleep? Downsizing, job insecurity and sleep behavior," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    9. Mehrzad B. Baktash & John S. Heywood & Uwe Jirjahn, 2024. "Variable Pay and Work Hours: Does Performance Pay Reduce the Gender Time Gap?," Research Papers in Economics 2024-08, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    10. Marco Clemens, 2024. "Bonuses, Profit-sharing and Job Satisfaction: the More, the Better?," IAAEU Discussion Papers 202406, Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU).
    11. Benjamin Semujanga & Xavier Parent-Rocheleau, 2024. "Time-Based Stress and Procedural Justice: Can Transparency Mitigate the Effects of Algorithmic Compensation in Gig Work?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(1), pages 1-16, January.
    12. Green, Colin P. & Heywood, John S., 2023. "Performance pay, work hours and employee health in the UK," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Performance Pay; Worker Health; Stress; Risk Tolerance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

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