Closing Keynote - Using Nonfinancial Incentives to Promote Motivation and Inclusion in Online Team Work

Social recognition is an important source of motivation, even in virtual work environments. This talk discusses why such nonfinancial incentives have important advantages compared to economic incentives, such as paychecks and bonuses. It presents evidence from large-scale field experiments and tightly controlled lab settings that show the powerful causal effects of social recognition on motivation and performance. It highlights the importance of choosing the right forms of nonfinancial incentives to avoid backlash effects and, instead, leverage the full potential of recognition incentives.