European Management Review (2007) 4, 6–14 & 2007 EURAM Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. All rights reserved 1740-4754/07 $30.00 palgrave-journals.com/emr Awards as compensation Bruno S. Frey1,2 1Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 2CREMA – Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts, Zurich, Switzerland Correspondence: Bruno S. Frey, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 30, 35 99, CH-8006, Zurich CH-8006, Switzerland. Tel: þ 41 44 634 37 31; Fax: þ 41 44 634 35 99; E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Awards are non-material, extrinsic compensation taking the form of orders, medals, decorations and prizes. They have been widely used in monarchies and republics, private organizations, not-for-profit and profit-oriented firms. Nevertheless, they have so far not received much attention. This paper develops empirically testable hypotheses, analysing the determinants of the supply of awards. The hypotheses refer to the possibility of using awards, the effectiveness of awards, and the capacity to maintain the scarcity value of awards. As the number of awards bestowed cannot (at least so far) be measured adequately, empirical evidence is adduced by way of illustrative examples. European Management Review (2007) 4, 6–14. doi:10.1057/palgrave.emr.1500068 Keywords: compensation; incentives; motivation; awards; orders; distinction; principal-agent Awards are omnipresent honorary doctor or honorary professor or senator. Profes- wards in the form of orders, medals and decorations sional associations award an enormous number of medals, exist everywhere in society.1 Governments and all ranging from the Fields Medal in mathematics to Nobel A manner of non-governmental organizations hand out Prizes (Weinberg and Galenson, 2005). Prestigious fellow- awards in the civil and military sectors, in academia, in ships exist in Academies of Science (e.g. Fellow of the Royal culture, in the media and in religion, as well as in sports. All Society FRS, founded in 1660; Fellow of the American around the world,2 officers are highly decorated; sometimes Academy of Arts and Sciences, founded in 1780; Fellow of their entire chests are covered with orders and decorations. the Royal Society of Edinburgh FRSE, founded, among In the arts, in culture and in the media, prominent others, by Adam Smith in 1783; or Fellow of the Academy of examples are the Academy Awards (Oscars), the prizes Social Sciences in Australia FASSA); and in associations handed out by the film festivals at Cannes, Venice or Berlin, such as the Econometric Society (Hamermesh and Schmidt, the Emmy Awards and Grammy Awards, the Booker Prize 2001). And then there is the flood of best paper awards and the prix Goncourt in literature, or the Pulitzer Prize. Art handed out at conferences and by journals (Coupe´, 2003). institutions, such as museums, bestow titles, such as Even more surprising is the widespread use of awards in benefactor or patron, upon their supporters. In the field the corporate sector of a market economy where the only of sports, there are regular, often yearly, competitions for reward, after all, is supposed to be money. Firms commend the title Olympic Champion or World Champion. Athletes their employees for being ‘Salesperson of the Month’or are given the honour of being elected ‘Sports Personality of ‘Employee of the Week’; there seems to exist no limit to the the Year’ (by the BBC) and are admitted into the Halls of ingenuity of inventing new awards. Most for-profit firms Fame. The International Football Association bestowed extensively use awards as a form of compensation in upon Pele´ (Edsen Arantes do Nascimento) and Franz addition to monetary benefits. Awards have a strong Beckenbauer the ‘FIFA Centennial Order of Merit’ for being signalling function. They serve as an indication of what the best footballers of the 20th century. Religious organiza- kind of (extra-role) behaviour is desired by the manage- tions, such as the Catholic Church, award the titles Canon, ment above and beyond normal duties. Awards also serve a Monsignore or Archbishop, and beatify and canonize signalling function for the recipients. They improve career distinguished persons, which can be considered a post- opportunities and indicate superior talent and motivation mortem award. to outsiders. Awards may bring recipients material benefits It might be thought that academia, as the place of in economic interactions (Ball et al., 2001). Awards rational discourse, would be an exception. However, the certainly represent more than just money, and the opposite is true: academia has an elaborate and extensive recipients experience them as a special form of social system of awards. Universities confer many titles, such as distinction, setting them apart from the other employees. Awards as compensation Bruno S. Frey 7 I argue that there are major differences between awards and It is characteristic of awards that they can only be monetary compensation, which makes the separate analysis broadly defined. In this paper, awards are cover extrinsic, of awards worthwhile. At this point, it suffices to mention but non-material compensation. Some awards such as the the following differences: title ‘Manager of the Month’ are not intended to compensate recipients for their achievements; they are The material costs of awards are quite low for the donor therefore excluded from consideration in this paper. but the value may be very high for the recipient. The Awards differ from material, in particular monetary, costs mainly consist in the selection and presentation at a compensation and also from purely intrinsic rewards (see special ceremony. A quite different type of cost is the Frey, 1997; Be´nabou and Tirole, 2004). The broad nature of decreased value of an award if it is handed out too freely. awards is no mere accident, but an important feature of Accepting an award establishes a special relationship, in awards. An analysis is difficult because the quality aspect is which the recipient owes (some measure of) loyalty to the essential. It makes little sense, for example, to just count the donor. It is in the interest of the recipient to show this number of orders given out, because they differ in many loyalty or respect to the bestower because doing respects, most importantly in the appreciation accorded to otherwise would reduce the value of the reward received. them. Thus, there is a world of difference between a person The respective contract, however, is tacit, incomplete, receiving the Most Noble Order of the Garter created in and difficult, or impossible, to enforce by the donor ex 1348, or an MBE (Member of the Order of the British post. Empire) created in 1917. At the present state of research, it Awards work better as an incentive instrument than is not possible to evaluate the number and quality of awards monetary payment, when the recipient’s performance using any one single measure. Moreover, there are serious can be only vaguely determined. data limitations. To my knowledge, there is no compre- Awards are less likely to crowd out the recipients’ hensive list of the different types and classes of awards in intrinsic motivation than monetary compensation. the various spheres of society (government, the arts, Awards as such are not taxed, while monetary income is culture, the media, sports, religion, academia, not-for-profit (but the money possibly coming with awards is, or rather and for-profit enterprises), countries and time periods. A should be, taxed). statistic of awards handed out in each category, and for Awards are discrete and discontinuous, while monetary each country and time period is even more elusive. Only income is continuous. partial, spotty and inconsistent evidence is available from scattered sources. This applies, in particular, to the many The desire for social distinction that lies behind the awards given by private institutions, such as non-profit demand for awards can be taken to be innate to human organizations, clubs and firms. Orders given by monarchs beings. The firms bestowing awards organize special or governments are somewhat better documented.4 Because ceremonies to present them, publish the occasion in their no internationally comparable data on awards are available, newsletter, and exhibit the awards in well-visible locations. the propositions outlined below are illustrated with These facts create a tension between the employees’ desire examples. They serve to make the presentation more vivid for social distinction and their effort to stay in a good but they are not meant to substitute for a rigorous relationship with their work colleagues. The tension is quantitative test. reflected in the observation that when employees are asked The science of phaleristics (the Greek and Roman word whether they would like being honoured in a social for award) has produced a large literature on specific occasion when receiving the award regularly expresses that awards, in particular on orders, decorations and medals. they prefer not to have one, but, nevertheless, are greatly This literature is historically oriented and mainly devoted pleased when their superiors organize such an event.3 to presenting legal rules and regulations, as well as facts. The awards mentioned have, of course, many different Examples are Risk (1972) on the Most Honourable Order properties. For some purposes, it is necessary to carefully of the Bath, or Galloway (2002) on the Order of St Michael distinguish between, for instance, a (British) Lord and a and St George. Very useful discussions (including Knight, as the former brings legislative power (he/she some data) on the present state of orders, focusing on becomes a member of the House of Lords) while the latter is Britain, are provided by Phillips (2004) and in the report by purely honorific. And it is certainly not the same gaining the House of Commons (2004).