Performance effects of setting a high reference point for peer-performance comparison

Eyring, Henry and Narayanan, V.G. (2018) Performance effects of setting a high reference point for peer-performance comparison. Journal of Accounting Research, 56 (2). 581 - 615. ISSN 0021-8456

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Abstract

We conduct a field experiment, based on a registered report accepted by the Journal of Accounting Research, to test performance effects of setting a high reference point for peer-performance comparison. Relative to providing the median as a reference point for online students to compare themselves to, providing the top quartile: damps performance for those below the median; boosts performance for those between the median and top quartile; and, in the case of outcome but not process comparison, boosts performance for those above the top quartile. We do not find that either reference point yields a greater average performance effect. However, providing the more effective reference point in each partition of initial performance yields a 40% greater performance effect than providing either reference point uniformly. Students access the online courses intermittently over the span of a year. Our effects derive from small portions of our treatment groups—5% in the case of process comparison and 26% in the case of outcome comparison—who accessed treatment and who were, on average, more active leading up to and during our intervention

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1475679x
Additional Information:	© 2018 University of Chicago on behalf of the Accounting Research Center
Divisions:	Accounting
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5601 Accounting University Structure > Language Centre
JEL classification:	C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C9 - Design of Experiments > C93 - Field Experiments D - Microeconomics > D9 - Intertemporal Choice and Growth > D91 - Intertemporal Consumer Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education > I21 - Analysis of Education M - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting > M4 - Accounting and Auditing > M41 - Accounting
Date Deposited:	09 Feb 2018 13:13
Last Modified:	22 Nov 2024 04:12
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/86732

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