Tangible Rewards Research Articles

Tangible Rewards for More Than Just Productivity: Examining Canadian Public Accounting Firms' Rewards Programs*

ABSTRACTCompanies spend significant amounts of money on tangible rewards programs, even during the economic turmoil of the COVID‐19 pandemic. The prevalence, growth, and significance of these expenditures highlight the importance of understanding the purpose and use of these programs by organizations. Research on public accounting (PA) firms' compensation plans has focused on the balance between professional and commercial incentives in partner profit‐sharing schemes but has failed to examine the incentives for nonpartner audit professionals. However, it is exactly these professionals who do a substantial amount of work on audit engagements. This paper has three main purposes. First, we investigate the nature and composition of PA firms' tangible rewards programs and provide a detailed description. Second, we examine the use of firms' tangible rewards programs to provide evidence of what actions are being rewarded. We use Almer et al.'s (2005, Behavioral Research in Accounting 17: 1–22) framework, which presents dimensions of the auditors' professional contribution, and explores whether firms recognize these dimensions using tangible rewards. Third, we develop future research questions to help explore the use of tangible rewards in firms without structured output. We collect archival data on the use of tangible rewards from each of the Big 4 PA firms and three of the next four largest international accounting firms in Canada. We find that firms use their tangible rewards programs for “building a culture of recognition,” for performance incentives, and for employee and firm development, thus rewarding a broad set of measures beyond the incentive measures for hours worked.

Children's and Caregivers' Review of a Guided Imagery Therapy Mobile App Designed to Treat Children With Functional Abdominal Pain Disorders: Leveraging a Mixed Methods Approach With User-Centered Design.

Functional abdominal pain disorders (FAPDs) are highly prevalent and associated with substantial morbidity. Guided imagery therapy (GIT) is efficacious; however, barriers often impede patient access. Therefore, we developed a GIT mobile app as a novel delivery platform. Guided by user-centered design, this study captured the critiques of our GIT app from children with FAPDs and their caregivers. Children aged 7 to 12 years with Rome IV-defined FAPDs and their caregivers were enrolled. The participants completed a software evaluation, which assessed how well they executed specific app tasks: opening the app, logging in, initiating a session, setting the reminder notification time, and exiting the app. Difficulties in completing these tasks were tallied. After this evaluation, the participants independently completed a System Usability Scale survey. Finally, the children and caregivers were separately interviewed to capture their thoughts about the app. Using a hybrid thematic analysis approach, 2 independent coders coded the interview transcripts using a shared codebook. Data integration occurred after the qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed, and the collective results were summarized. We enrolled 16 child-caregiver dyads. The average age of the children was 9.0 (SD 1.6) years, and 69% (11/16) were female. The System Usability Scale average scores were above average at 78.2 (SD 12.6) and 78.0 (SD 13.5) for the children and caregivers, respectively. The software evaluation revealed favorable usability for most tasks, but 75% (12/16) of children and 69% (11/16) of caregivers had difficulty setting the reminder notification. The children's interviews confirmed the app's usability as favorable but noted difficulty in locating the reminder notification. The children recommended adding exciting scenery and animations to the session screen. Their preferred topics were animals, beaches, swimming, and forests. They also recommended adding soft sounds related to the session topic. Finally, they suggested that adding app gamification enhancements using tangible and intangible rewards for listening to the sessions would promote regular use. The caregivers also assessed the app's usability as favorable but verified the difficulty in locating the reminder notification. They preferred a beach setting, and theme-related music and nature sounds were recommended to augment the session narration. App interface suggestions included increasing the font and image sizes. They also thought that the app's ability to relieve gastrointestinal symptoms and gamification enhancements using tangible and intangible incentives would positively influence the children's motivation to use the app regularly. Data integration revealed that the GIT app had above-average usability. Usability challenges included locating the reminder notification feature and esthetics affecting navigation. Children and caregivers rated our GIT app's usability favorably, offered suggestions to improve its appearance and session content, and recommended rewards to promote its regular use. Their feedback will inform future app refinements.

Evaluating the Impact of Gamification on the Online Shop of a Game Server: A Comparison between the Portuguese and North American Contexts

Online commerce has been growing rapidly in an increasingly digital world, and gamification, the practice of designing games in a context outside the industry itself, can be an effective strategy to stimulate consumer engagement and conversion rate. This paper describes the design process involved in introducing gamification into an online shop that is supported by two game servers of the same kind, namely one in the United States of America (US) and another in Portugal (PT). Through the various phases of the design thinking process, a gamified system was implemented to meet the needs of various types of users frequently found in the shops. The gamification elements used were intended to increase user engagement with the shops so that they would become more aware of existing products and the introduction of new products, promoting purchase through intangible challenges and rewards. The impacts on server revenues and user satisfaction (N = 138) were evaluated one month after introducing the gamification techniques. The results show that gamification has a positive effect on users, with a significant increase in consumer interaction in both shops. However, from a business point of view, the results show only an increase in revenue for the US shop, while the Portuguese shop shows no significant differences compared to previous months. Of the two user groups analyzed, only those who frequent the US shop show receptivity toward intangible rewards, with tangible rewards (discounts) being a greater motivating factor for both groups.

Parents’ Perception of Using Tangible Reward Systems at Compulsory Schools in China

With the establishment of the two-child and three-child policies in China, parents pay more attention to kids' education. Many countries support using tangible reward systems in educational institutions, and this situation is prevalent in Chinese schools, especially for young-age students. In this experiment, the author collected perceptions about using tangible reward systems in compulsory schools from Chinese parents who have at least one child currently studying in a compulsory school in China. The author summarized parents' thoughts about the expected advantages and disadvantages of using tangible rewards from other studies. A majority of parents supported using tangible reward systems at school. They somewhat or strongly agree with those advantages, such as improving children's self-esteem, collective sense of honor, and independent learning ability. Most of them did not think this kind of system could bring a significantly negative impact on children, such as undermining students' intrinsic motivation. However, a large number of parents agreed that tangible rewards could make students more working for external rewards. In conclusion, most participants still believe in the benefits of tangible reward systems and will also feel happy when their children obtain those rewards from school.

Analysis of Extrinsic Rewards on Work Motivation in the Apron Movement Control (AMC) Unit at Adi Soemarmo Boyolali International Airport

This research is a qualitative research that aims to analyze extrinsic rewards on work motivation in the apron movement control unit at Adi Soemarmo Boyolali Airport. Extrinsic Rewards are tangible rewards that come from outside the person himself, can be financial, such as salaries, bonuses, benefits, and can be non-financial, such as promotions. Work motivation is a state or energy that drives employees who are ordered or given assignments to achieve organizational goals. (Apron Movement Control/AMC) is an airport employee who has a license or qualification to carry out law enforcement, traffic security on the apron and aircraft parking supervision. This study took 4 respondents consisting of 2 senior employees and 2 junior employees. Methods of data collection using observation (observation), interviews and documentation. Analysis of research data is descriptive. The results of this study indicate that extrinsic rewards can increase employee motivation in the AMC unit and the rewards given by the company have been implemented properly.

The contribution of crowdfunding for philanthropy: A systematic review and framework of donation and reward crowdfunding

AbstractWhich novelties do donation‐ and reward‐based crowdfunding bring to philanthropy? Scholars interested in crowdfunding contributed to developing empirical explanations on which features impact online giving. However, the focus on theory building is limited. We developed a theoretical framework by categorizing the empirical findings reported in 198 studies, which resulted in four crowdfunding features impacting giving: (1) project creator, (2) social information, (3) rewards, and (4) project description. We explain why these features impact giving by integrating them with insights from several fields of social sciences, deriving seven giving mechanisms. We conclude that with impacting donations via crowdfunding, three giving themes exist: being affected by (1) the perceived project's quality, (2) social connections and/or (3) tangible rewards. The categorization of mechanisms for giving allows initiators to extract best practice examples for increasing the probability of successful crowdfunding projects considering the giving mechanisms.

We're in This Together: The Motivational Effects of Tangible Rewards in a Group Setting*

ABSTRACTWe design three experiments to examine how group incentives moderate the motivational effects of cash versus tangible rewards. Our first experiment shows that, relative to individual incentives, group incentives can magnify any negative effect of the uncertain attractiveness of a less‐fungible tangible reward (versus cash), as group members must evaluate not only how attractive they find the reward themselves but also how attractive other group members are likely to find it. However, as we show in our second experiment, under group incentives, structuring a tangible reward as a shared experience among group members who like each other can mitigate any demotivating effect of an individually consumed tangible reward vis‐à‐vis a cash reward. A third experiment provides process support for our theory, showing that both the attractiveness of the reward and the degree of certainty that others will also find it attractive jointly and fully mediate our findings. As a whole, our study furthers an understanding of the multifaceted dimensions of tangible rewards, identifying incremental effects that can arise when tangible rewards are combined with group incentives.

Exploration of parental rewards in incentivizing children's physical activity.

The purpose of this study was to explore the prevalence, varieties, and motivations behind parent-selected incentivization for children's physical activity (PA). Parents (n=90; 30.0±8.5 years) of children (8.7±2.1 years) completed a web-based survey that included items regarding the use of PA rewards, children's moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA, min·week-1), access to electronic devices, and demographic characteristics. Open-ended questions were used to determine the type of activity rewarded, type of reward given, and parents' reasoning for not using PA rewards. Independent sample t-tests were used to determine differences between reward groups (reward and no reward) and parent-reported children's MVPA. Open-ended responses underwent thematic analysis. Over half (55%) of the respondents provided PA rewards. There was no difference between reward groups for MVPA. Parents reported their children having access to various technology modes, including TV, tablets, video game systems, computers, and cellphones. Most of the parents (78.2%) reported restricting their child's technology time in some capacity. Rewarded PAs were thematized as "children responsibilities", "non-sport activity", and "sport". Two themes regarding types of rewards included "tangible" and "nontangible". Two underlying themes as to why parents did not give rewards were deemed "built-in-habit" and "enjoyment". Rewarding children's PA is prevalent among this sample of parents. Substantial variety exists regarding the type of PA incentivized and the type of reward provided. Future studies should explore whether parents use reward structures and how they conceptualize nontangible, electronics-based rewards versus tangible rewards to incentivize children's PA to promote lifelong behavior.

Do high-PSM public employees like extrinsic rewards? A latent class analysis

ABSTRACT Scholarship examining public service motivation (PSM) in multi-incentive settings is still insufficient. Though previous studies have extensively tested the nomological networks of PSM, they paid less attention to differences between individual preferences. Drawing on latent class analysis (LCA), this study addresses this gap by focusing on these differences in a multi-incentive setting instead of merely investigating relationships between variables. The analysis established a four-class model that classified 1286 Chinese respondents into four groups based on their PSM level and responses to three types of rewards (i.e., intrinsic, intangible extrinsic, and tangible extrinsic rewards). Results demonstrated that: among the respondents, (1) 32.49% with low PSM preferred tangible extrinsic rewards; (2) 19.3% with moderate PSM showed a preference for intangible extrinsic rewards; (3) 35.94% with high PSM reported a desire for tangible extrinsic rewards; and (4) 12.26% with high PSM showed a preference for all three types of rewards. Findings support the argument that PSM may be compatible with tangible and intangible extrinsic rewards.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Tangible Reward Systems

The tangible reward system is defined as the use of material and symbolic rewards to influence students’ behaviors. Tangible rewards are widely used in all education systems and have been researched from multiple aspects. However, investigations on the impact of tangible reward systems revealed controversial results. This article summarizes studies that support and oppose the ongoing debate on whether teachers should use tangible reward systems in classrooms. Previous publications on the impact of the tangible reward system on students from kindergarten to undergraduates were analyzed. The findings were compared on different conditions such as grade levels, countries and regions, and the views of parents, teachers, and students. Literatures indicated that the tangible reward system could be used by teachers to an extent for young students or unmotivated classes only as an initial guide to lead students toward adequate learning behavior and self-motivation. Several suggestions were proposed on how to effectively use tangible rewards in the classroom.

The Effect of the Internal Customer (Employee) on the External Customer in Citizenship Behavior: A Mediated Model Through Customer Support Perception

Organizational citizenship behaviour, which refers to employees exhibiting extra-role behaviours without expecting any tangible reward, can also be observed in customers. Similar to employees, customers can also engage in voluntary behaviours that are beneficial to the business (customer citizenship behaviour). These behaviours exhibited by both employees and customers areimportant for businesses to achieve their goals and survive. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to determine the direct and indirect effects of employees’ citizenship behaviours on customers’ citizenship behaviours. The study formulated hypotheses based on social exchange theory, examining organizational citizenship behaviour’s direct effect on customer citizenship behaviour as well as its indirect effect on customer support perception. To test these hypotheses, data were collected from 302 customers of clothing stores in Turkey. The data were analysed using SPSS, AMOS, and Process MACRO (for SPSS and SAS) programs. The data were subjected to various procedures. Specifically, frequency analysis, normality test analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability analysis were conducted. In addition, detection analyses for method-related problems (multicollinearity and common method bias), correlation analysis, and regression analysis were performed. The results indicated that the data met the assumption of a normal distribution, the scales used were reliable and valid, and there was no evidence of multicollinearity or common method bias. Controlling for demographic variables, the correlation analysis revealed positive relationships between perception of organizational citizenship behaviour, customer citizenship behaviour and customer support perception. The regression analysis conducted to test the hypotheses revealed that organizational citizenship behaviour has a positive effect on customer citizenship behaviour. Moreover, the results indicated that customer support perception plays a mediating role in this effect. In other words, organizational citizenship behaviour affected customer citizenship behaviour both directly and indirectly (through customer support perception). These findings indicate that employees who are “good soldiers” influence customers to be “good soldiers” as well. Therefore, the study proved the importance of the internal customer (employees) for businesses in influencing the behaviour of external customers. Implications were made based on the findings in the study.

The Implementation of Contingency Management Intervention in an Institutionalized Drugs Treatment Facility in Malaysia

Despite Contingency Management Intervention (CM) having been proven to be a highly effective intervention in the context of substance use treatment and rehabilitation worldwide, it is still rarely studied in the context of institutionalized treatment settings. The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of CM intervention conducted in an institutionalized drug treatment setting in Malaysia. The study’s main objective was to examine the effectiveness of CM intervention on clients’ treatment engagement within a usual psychosocial (PS) program. A total of 44 clients from the Narcotic Addiction Rehabilitation Centre or PUSPEN were randomly assigned into two groups, namely the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group followed a 12-week psychosocial intervention (PS) with CM intervention (CM) (PS+CM). Meanwhile, the controlled group inclusively went through 12 weeks of the usual psychosocial intervention program (PS). CM intervention was used to reinforce clients’ engagement within treatment sessions by giving tangible rewards for every treatment engagement behaviour recorded. Rewards collected have an associated monetary value which was used to redeem retail items such as food, toiletries, books and clothing items. Data collection was performed weekly for every psychosocial session conducted by the PUSPEN’s treatment officers. The findings demonstrated that CM intervention effectively improves clients’ treatment engagement and verified that CM interventions can also be conducted in an institutionalized drug treatment setting in Malaysia.

Contingency Management and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Adherence Support Services (CoMPASS): A hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation study to promote HIV risk reduction among people who inject drugs

BackgroundHIV disproportionally affects persons who inject drugs (PWID), but engagement with HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is low. We describe the rationale and study design for a new study, “Contingency Management and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Adherence Support Services (CoMPASS),” a hybrid type 1 effectiveness-implementation trial to promote HIV risk reduction among PWID. MethodsIn four community-based programs in the northeastern United States, PrEP-eligible PWID (target n = 526) are randomized to treatment as usual or Contingency Management (CM) and, as indicated, stepped up to PrEP Adherence Support Services (CoMPASS) over 24 weeks. During CM sessions, participants receive timely tangible rewards for verifiable activities demonstrating 1) PrEP initiation and adherence, and 2) engagement with medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) and other OUD-related care. Participants who do not have high levels of biomarker-confirmed PrEP adherence at week 12 will be stepped up to receive PrEP Adherence Support Services (PASS) consisting of strengths-based case management over 12 weeks. Interventions are delivered by trained PrEP navigators, staff embedded within the respective sites. The primary outcome is sustained PrEP adherence by dried blood spot testing at 24 weeks. To inform future implementation, we are conducting implementation-focused process evaluations throughout the clinical trial. ConclusionsResults from this protocol are anticipated to yield novel findings regarding the impact and scalability of CoMPASS to promote HIV prevention among PWID in partnership with community-based organizations.http://ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04738825.

Staff Motivation for Green Behaviour and Environmental Initiatives

The main purpose of the study is to assess the use of motivational tools to green behaviour of employees and environmental initiatives in Ukrainian organizations. The results of the survey confirmed the working hypotheses: the practice of motivating staff to green behaviour and environmental initiatives in Ukraine has not become widespread. The research showed that a half of the organizations encourage environmental initiatives. At the same time, owners and managers of organizations prefer intangible rewards of encouraging employees to green behaviour and ecological initiatives. Although intangible rewards are more common in encouraging employees to participate in environmental activities than tangible ones, the practice of using them is still mediocre. The paper focuses on the necessity of paying more attention to both tangible and intangible incentives of encouraging employees to environmental activities by owners and managers. The study provides the important recommendations for encouraging employees to engage in green activities and environmental initiatives: increasing wages, paying bonuses, providing social benefits as tangible rewards; the publication of staff contributions to sustainable development, public recognition and awards for environmental efforts, green activities, encouraging the receipt of certificates and awards as intangible rewards; promotion of employees who have competencies in green management, involving employees in goal setting and the development of indicators of the environmental activities results, green corporate culture and green leadership as efficient corporate factors.

Peace on Our Terms: The Global Battle for Women's Rights after the First World War

Peace on Our Terms: The Global Battle for Women's Rights after the First World War

EFL classrooms in the Indonesian context: How do eleventh-grade students perceive rewards in EFL instruction?

Perception is a cognitive process when a person interacts with their surroundings while accepting information from the brain. Students perceive of rewards during English as a foreign language instruction is important because perception can affect their learning ability. However, the eleventh-grade students perceive of rewards in EFL instruction was still unclear, this research aimed to investigate the perception of rewards among eleventh-grade students in a vocational high school in EFL instruction. The approach of this research was quantitative. With the help of Microsoft excel, eighty-one students in the eleventh grade were chosen randomly to answer the questionnaire, and 10% of them were chosen to be interviewed. A questionnaire and interview were employed to get the data about the eleventh-grade student's perceptions of rewards in EFL instruction. Then, the interview data were analyzed using Miles and Huberman data analysis, which consists of data condensation, data display, conclusion, and verification. Meanwhile, the data collected through a questionnaire was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results showed that rewards in EFL instruction could increase students’ motivation in learning as well as make them happy and excited during the learning process. Besides that, students picked words of praise as the reward that could make them happy and followed by any tangible rewards the teachers gave. Several suggestions for future research follow the findings of this study.

The angels and heroes of health care: Justified and appropriate, or harmful and destructive?

The angels and heroes of health care: Justified and appropriate, or harmful and destructive?

When and why tangible rewards can motivate greater effort than cash rewards: An analysis of four attribute differences

Tangible rewards (e.g., gift cards, merchandise) are non-cash incentives with non-trivial monetary value. Proponents claim tangible rewards are more motivating than cash rewards because of greater reward distinctiveness – employees perceive cash rewards as simply “more salary,” but tangible rewards as being distinct from salary. Using four studies, we investigate the effects of four attribute differences between cash and tangible rewards on employee effort: fungibility, hedonic nature, novelty, and discrete framing. We find these four differences affect effort, both individually and collectively, in a manner consistent with proponents’ claims. We also find the greater fungibility of cash has countervailing motivational advantages over tangible rewards. Overall, our results go beyond demonstrating whether tangible rewards motivate greater effort than do cash rewards and shed light on when and why tangible rewards motivate greater effort. Furthermore, our emphasis on reward attributes highlights the value in thinking of rewards more broadly as combinations of attributes rather than a strict dichotomy of cash versus tangible rewards.

Understanding the causes and consequences of envy among nurses: A scoping review.

This scoping review presents an overview of the causes and consequences of envy among clinical nurses. Many nurses in the United States have in recent years left their permanent positions for temporary agency assignments that pay higher salaries. Although greed seems like a likely explanation for the rise in travel nursing, humans tend to have a particular interest in wanting what others have. A five-stage scoping review framework and the PRISMA-ScR checklist guided this review. Social comparison and malicious envy are prevalent among nurses. Envy is a powerful emotion that affects human communication and behaviour in organizations. Scholars have underexplored the potential benefits of leveraging benign envy in the nursing context. The results highlight the relational nature of envy. Social comparison and envy provide an insight that suggests that nurses who change jobs are not necessarily greedy. They may be seeking the right mix of tangible and intangible rewards. Greed and envy can motivate nurses to change jobs. Although envy and greed may produce the same outcome, they are qualitatively different. The motivation to change jobs alludes to nurses' desire to have better control of their professional and personal lives.

An optimal coupling incentive mechanism concerning insider's compliance behavior towards marine information security policy

It is widely agreed that the insider's noncompliance to the marine information security policies has brought about a major security problem in the organizational context. Previous research has stressed the potential of remunerative control, i.e., reward, to better understand this problem. Few studies have been devoted to the exploration of the coupling incentive mechanism of tangible and intangible rewards that would induce insider's compliance behavior towards the marine information security policy. In the present study, we address this research gap by proposing a theoretical model that explains the optimal coupling incentive mechanism of these two different types of remunerative control. Our findings have delivered insightful implications for practice and research on how to improve the marine information security policy compliance in a more subtle way.