In Simple Words
Imagine a worker who gets a $20 social benefit (or saves $20 in financial support) by giving a job referral to a struggling relative instead of a skilled acquaintance. To get the worker to choose the skilled candidate, the employer's performance bonus must exceed that $20 benefit divided by the worker's confidence in identifying who is actually more skilled.
Male referrers in Kolkata
- Fixed referral fee
- Group used for comparison
- Rs.60 plus up to Rs.50 performance pay
- Coworker referrals about 8 percentage points higher
Laboratory selection-model estimate. Fixed-fee arms pooled; no numerical bonus threshold or social-transfer mechanism was independently identified. Lower bonus arm omitted.
See source →Research question
When employees face competing social obligations to refer family members or friends who offer social transfers, employers must determine the precise monetary incentive required to compel employees to refer higher-skilled candidates instead.
Participants
N = 561 male adult labor market participants in Kolkata, India.
Study Design
Microeconomic theoretical decision model parameterized and tested via lab-in-the-field RCT varying performance bonuses (0, 20, or 50 Rupees) and fixed fees (60, 80, or 110 Rupees).
Results
Under the mathematical threshold where performance pay exceeds the social transfer differential divided by signal precision, high-stakes performance pay (50 Rupees) successfully incentivized participants to overcome network social transfer differentials, shifting referrals away from relatives by 7 percentage points and toward higher-skilled coworkers by 8 percentage points.
Takeaway
Calculate the minimum required referral performance bonus by estimating the social or risk-sharing payout differential between candidate types and scaling by employee screening accuracy.
Source and citation
See source →Read alongside the research
Plain-English glossary
Original explanations, informed by the references below. Examples are illustrations, not data from the studies above. The research text stays unchanged.
- Percentage points
The difference between two percentages.
ExampleA rise from 40% to 50% is 10 percentage points. Relative to the starting value, that is a 25% increase.
Office for National Statistics · Percentages ↗Read more about percentage points →- Randomized controlled trial
A study that uses chance, like drawing lots, to decide who receives each option being compared. Researchers compare the groups’ outcomes to estimate the effect of those options.
ExampleA lottery assigns volunteers to a training programme or a comparison group. Researchers then compare their outcomes.
GET-IT glossary · Randomized study ↗Read more about randomized controlled trial →