Join us for an engaging talk by Utteeyo Dasgupta. This event will take place in Social Sciences 224 from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights and participate in a stimulating discussion!
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FC Talks: Utteeyo Dasgupta, “Let It Be”
October 9, 2025 @ 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Title: “Let It Be”: Motivating Workers Through Task Autonomy
Abstract: We provide novel insights on the effects of offering autonomy on non-monetary dimensions to employees. We introduce a novel game, the Worker Autonomy Game (WAG), where subjects as employees earn by completing a real effort task and decide a contribution amount that generates additional income for the employer. Our treatments vary employees’ autonomy over their choice of tasks in an online labor market. Results indicate that allowing workers more autonomy leads to significant improvements in task performance as well as satisfaction; employees highly value procedural autonomy. Further, when employers make a demonstrably explicit choice to offer (withhold) task autonomy among workers it leads to a dramatic rise (fall) in task satisfaction and contribution behavior.
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