Abstract
We study the causal effect of mood on the productivity of call-center workers. Mood is measured through an online “mood questionnaire” which the workers are encouraged to fill out daily. We find that better mood actually decreases worker productivity for workers whose compensation is largely fixed. The negative effect of mood is attenuated for workers whose compensation is based on performance (high-powered incentives). This finding holds both at a correlational level and in two IV settings, where mood is instrumented for by weather or, alternatively, by whether the local professional sports team played/won the day before. We rule out a number of threats to the exclusion restrictions, and discuss the mechanisms that could generate our findings (JEL J24, J28, M52, C26).
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 362-393 |
| Number of pages | 32 |
| Journal | Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jul 1 2024 |
Funding
We thank Shumiao Ouyang and Athanasse Zafirov for excellent research assistance. This research was conducted in collaboration with Workforce Science Project of the Searle Center for Law, Regulation and Economic Growth at Northwestern University, and undertaken, in part, thanks to funding from the Canada Research Chairs program.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics and Econometrics
- Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
- Law