The allocation of incentives in multilayered organizations: evidence from a community health program in Sierra Leone

Does the allocation of incentives across the hierarchy of an organization matter for its performance? In an experiment with a large public health organization, we find that health care provision is highly affected by how incentives are allocated between frontline workers and their supervisors. Shari...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Deserranno, Erika, Caria, Stefano, Kastrau, Philipp, León-Ciliotta, Gianmarco
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2025
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/72212
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10230/72212
http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/735511
http://hdl.handle.net/10230/72212
Access Level:Embargoed access
Keyword:Incentius laborals
Cultura organitzativa
Productivitat laboral
Description
Summary:Does the allocation of incentives across the hierarchy of an organization matter for its performance? In an experiment with a large public health organization, we find that health care provision is highly affected by how incentives are allocated between frontline workers and their supervisors. Sharing incentives equally between these two layers raises health visits by 61% compared with unilateral allocations and uniquely improves health service provision and health outcomes. We provide reduced-form and structural evidence that effort complementarities and contractual frictions drive these results and explore the implications for the optimal design of incentive policies in multilayered organizations.