Can prosocial incentives and self-chosen goals improve performance? An online real-effort experiment
通过在线实验研究自选目标与亲社会奖励（捐给慈善）对绩效的影响，发现捐慈善时工人会设定更高目标从而提升绩效，尤其当工人认同慈善使命时效果更强。
Abstract We study incentive schemes that combine self-chosen goals with prosocial rewards. We design a real-effort task experiment with MTurk workers. Upon achieving self-chosen goals, rewards are paid to the worker in the monetary treatments or to charities in the prosocial treatments. To explore the mechanisms whereby rewards can improve performance with prosocial incentives, we develop a theoretical model with goal dependence and earning reference points. Our results show that when rewards are paid to charities, performance improvements happen through workers setting higher goals. This effect is stronger for those whose interests are matched with the charity’s mission. Our findings have important implications for incentivizing workers in the gig economy.