Work meaning and labour supply

• Applicant: Dr. Bettina Siflinger
• Subject Area: Economic Policy, Applied Economics
• Term: from 2017 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 328429603

A central question for the policy maker is to what extent the generosity of unemployment insurance affects individuals willingness to accept employment. When individuals care about the meaning of a job, they may be reluctant to accept a job that has little meaning unless the wage differential (the difference between wage and unemployment benefits) is substantial; however, if it carries significant meaning, they may accept it even if the wage differential is low. Thus, the generosity of social welfare may not be the only determinant of unemployment. Instead, other societal forces, such as the reputation of a job, and its benefits for particular groups or for society, may be important for the decision to take-up work. The objective of our project is to measure the impact of work meaning on the willingness to accept a job and job performance. To this end, we conduct a large-scale online experiment with a representative sample of employed and unemployed individuals. An important feature of our project is that we can link the experiment with survey data from the Panel Labor Market and Social Security (PASS) as well as with administrative labour market data.1. How important is work meaning for the willingness to accept a job and job performance relative to other incentives such as wages and performance pay? In this project, we will answer this question for the first time using a sample that is representative for the populations of employed and unemployed individuals.2. Which personal characteristics influence the willingness to take up a job, conditional on work meaning? Do employed and unemployed individuals differ in the willingness to take up a job? The data will allow us to compare the behaviour of employed and unemployed individuals. Since all subjects participate in the PASS survey, we will be able to track their job market decisions both before and after the study so that we can link experimental behaviour to job market performance.3. To what extent are hypothetical reservation wages related to the reservation wages for a real task? Many surveys record hypothetical reservation wages for imaginary jobs, so the question is whether they can explain actual job market decisions. Since all subjects in our study get the same job offer, we can examine the validity of hypothetical reservation wages.4. Do the effects of work meaning on job performance persist over time? Some behavioural motivations have a positive impact in the short-term, which however vanishes over time (e.g. Gneezy and List 2006). The setup of our experimental job will allow us to study whether work meaning has a persistent influence on outcomes.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Belgium
• Co-Investigators: Professorin Dr. Iris Kesternich; Dr. Gerrit Müller; Professor Dr. Heiner Schumacher