Does Increased Exposure to Peers with Adverse Characteristics Reduce Workplace Performance? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in the US Army
利用美国陆军向有犯罪记录的士兵发放道德豁免的自然实验，发现随机分配到更多有犯罪背景同事的士兵更容易犯重大违纪，且违纪常与豁免同事同时发生。
While much research has investigated peer effects in education, less is known about peer influence at work, particularly how bad peers affect other workers. I study soldiers during a time when the US Army granted large numbers of morality waivers to recruits with felony or misdemeanor convictions that normally preclude enlistment. I find that soldiers randomly assigned to larger shares of peers with criminal backgrounds are more likely to commit major misconduct. Additionally, that misconduct often occurs in the same month a waivered peer commits misconduct, suggesting that influence occurs through both exposure to adverse peers and their contemporaneous behavior.