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Dirk Sliwka

University of Cologne, and IZA, Germany

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Full Professor of Management, University of Cologne, Germany

Research interest

Personnel economics, behavioral economics, human resource management, labor economics, organizational economics, management accounting

Website

https://wiso.uni-koeln.de/de/forschung/find-an-expert/experts/prof-dr-dirk-sliwka/

Past positions

Assistant Professor (wissenschaftlicher Assistent), University of Bonn, Germany (2000–2003); Consultant Management Accounting, SAP AG, (1999–2000); Research Assistant University of Bonn, Germany (1998–1999)

Qualifications

Habilitation and venia legendi in Business Administration, University of Bonn, 2004

Selected publications

  • "Confidence in knowledge or confidence in the ability to learn: An experiment on the causal effects of beliefs on motivation." Games and Economic Behavior (Forthcoming) (with M. Fischer).

  • "More dispersion, higher bonuses? On differentiation in subjective performance evaluations." Journal of Labor Economics 36:2 (2018): 511–549 (and P. Kampkötter).

  • "Social responsibility and incentives in the lab: Why do agents exert more effort when principals donate?" Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 142 (2017): 482–493 (with A. Kajackaite).

  • "Wage increases and the dynamics of reciprocity." Journal of Labor Economics 35:2 (2017): 299–344 (with P. Werner).

  • "The impact of managerial change on performance. The role of team heterogeneity." Economic Inquiry 54:2 (2015): 1128–1149 (with S. Hentschel and G. Mühlheusser).

article(s)

  • Bonuses and performance evaluations

    Individual bonuses do not always raise performance; it depends on the characteristics of the job

    Dirk Sliwka, July 2020
    Economists have for a long time argued that performance-based bonuses raise performance. Indeed, many firms use bonuses tied to individual performance to motivate their employees. However, there has been heated debate among human resources professionals recently, and some firms have moved away from individual performance bonuses toward fixed wages only or collective performance incentive schemes such as profit-sharing or team incentives. The appropriate approach depends on each company's unique situation, and managers need to realize that individual bonus plans are not a panacea to motivate employees.
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