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  3. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
  4. July 2019
  5. Socializing at Work: Evidence from a Field Experiment with Manufacturing Workers

American Economic Journal:
Applied Economics

ISSN 1945-7782 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7790 (Online)

Socializing at Work: Evidence from a Field Experiment with Manufacturing Workers

  • Sangyoon Park
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
vol. 11, no. 3, July 2019
(pp. 424–55)
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Abstract

Through a field experiment at a seafood-processing plant, I examine how working alongside friends affects employee productivity and how this effect is heterogeneous with respect to an employee's personality. This paper presents two main findings. First, worker productivity declines when a friend is close enough to socialize with. Second, workers who are higher on the conscientiousness scale show smaller productivity declines when working alongside a friend. Estimates suggest that a median worker is willing to pay 4.5 percent of her wage to work next to friends.

Citation

Park, Sangyoon. 2019. "Socializing at Work: Evidence from a Field Experiment with Manufacturing Workers." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 11 (3): 424–55. DOI: 10.1257/app.20160650

Additional Materials

JEL Classification

  • C93 Field Experiments
  • J24 Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
  • J28 Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
  • J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
  • L66 Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco; Wine and Spirits
  • O15 Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
  • P23 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Factor and Product Markets; Industry Studies; Population

a seafood-processing plant productivity

  • Posted by Iryna Demko
  • Posted on 7/17/2019 10:20:43 AM
The paper finds that "Worker productivity declines when a friend is close enough to socialize with". Although the result may apply to a seafood-processing plant productivity, it is absolutely the opposite in more creative fields and occupations, where communication with peers creates ideas, supports knowledge transfer, increases happiness and productivity.
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