The effects of time blocking and goal setting on work performance

titleThe effects of time blocking and goal setting on work performance
start_date2025/03/21
schedule11h15-12h30
onlineno
location_info6th floor room
summaryWe experimentally study the effect of time blocking (dividing a work period into smaller intervals) and non-binding assigned goals on workers performance. While time-blocking increases performance by around 10% overall, goals have no significant effect on average. We find heterogeneous effects depending on a worker’s ability levels. Goal-setting only boosts the performance of high ability workers, but time blocking is equally effective regardless of ability levels. Moreover, for low-ability workers, the combination of time blocking and goal setting results in more mistakes and lower performance. In contrast, high-ability workers’ performance improves under both non-monetary incentive mechanisms. Our findings highlight time blocking as an effective, easy to implement motivational technique that works well for most individuals. On the other hand, the effectiveness of goal setting depends critically on worker’s abilities. Finally, our results caution against combining motivational techniques that might inadvertently hinder performance for low-ability workers.
responsiblesSaucet, Pejsachowicz