The positive consequences of performance pay on the wages and productivity have been well documented in the last decades. Yet, the increased pressure and work commitment associated with performance pay suggest that performance pay may have unintended negative consequences on worker’s health and well-being. As firms increasingly use performance pay worldwide, it becomes crucial to evaluate positive and negative consequences of performance pay. Thus, Chapters 2 – 4 of this doctoral thesis investigate the unintended adverse consequences of performance pay on stress, alcohol consumption, and loneliness, respectively. Chapter 5 investigates the positive role of performance pay on mitigating the overeducation wage penalty and enhancing labor market position of overeducated workers. In Chapter 2, together with John S. Heywood and Uwe Jirjahn, I examine the hypothesis that performance pay is positively associated with employee stress. Using unique survey data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, I find performance pay consistently and importantly associates with greater stress even controlling for a long list of economic, social, and personality characteristics. The finding also holds in instrumental variable estimations accounting for the potential endogeneity of performance pay. Moreover, I show that risk tolerance and locus of control moderate the relationship between performance pay and stress. Among workers receiving performance pay, the risk tolerant and those believing they can control their environment suffer to a lesser degree from stress. Chapter 3 examines the relationship between performance pay and alcohol use. Together with John S. Heywood and Uwe Jirjahn, I examine the hypothesis that alcohol use as “self-medication” is a natural response to the stress and uncertainty associated with performance pay. Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, I find that the likelihood of consuming each of four types of alcohol (beer, wine, spirits, and mixed drinks) is higher for those receiving performance pay even controlling for a long list of economic, social, and personality characteristics and in sensible instrumental variable estimates. I also show that the number of types of alcohol consumed is larger for those receiving performance pay and that the intensity of consumption increases. Moreover, I find that risk tolerance and gender moderate the relationship between performance pay and alcohol use. In Chapter 4, I examine the hypothesis that performance pay increases the risk of employee loneliness due to increased stress, job commitment, and uncooperativeness associated with performance pay. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel, I find that performance pay is positively associated with both the incidence and intensity of loneliness. Correspondingly, performance pay decreases the social life satisfaction of workers. The findings also hold in instrumental variable estimations addressing the potential endogeneity of performance pay and in various robustness checks. Interestingly, investigating the potential role of moderating factors reveals that the association between performance pay and loneliness is particularly large for private sector employees. Finally, in Chapter 5, I study the association between overeducation, performance pay, and wages. Overeducated workers are more productive and have higher wages in comparison to their adequately educated coworkers in the same jobs. However, they face a series of challenges in the labor market, including lower wages in comparison to their similarly educated peers who are in correctly matched jobs. Yet, less consensus exists over the adjustment mechanisms to overcome the negative consequences of overeducation. In this study, I examine the hypotheses that overeducated workers sort into performance pay jobs as an adjustment mechanism and that performance pay enhances their wages. Using the German Socio-Economic Panel, I show that overeducation associates with a higher likelihood of sorting into performance pay jobs and that performance pay moderates the wages of overeducated workers positively. It also holds in endogenous switching regressions accounting for the potential endogeneity of performance pay. Importantly, I show that the positive role of performance pay is particularly larger for the wages of overeducated women.

Les carnets paraissent deux fois par an et offrent aux dirigeant(e)s des écoles ainsi qu’au personnel des fondements théoriques et du matériel pratique pour la mise en oeuvre d’un développement scolaire démocratique. Chaque publication traite d’une méthode de l’éducation à la démocratie ou d’une question stratégique du développement scolaire. Les carnets en langue allemande sont mis à la disposition des écoles luxembourgeoises en version imprimée. L’ensemble du matériel ainsi que la version en langue française sont disponibles en ligne.