We examine organizational control in the context of wellness programs—organizational initiatives designed to improve the physical and mental health of employees. In a field study setting, we examine the associations of three different types of incentives (cash, gift cards, and tangible rewards) with wellness program performance. We find that employees who successfully complete program challenges are associated with greater weight loss. We also find participants choosing gift cards are associated with the greatest program success, even though cash rewards are selected more than twice as often as gift cards. Tangible rewards are the least frequently selected reward and are associated with lower performance than gift cards but relatively similar performance to cash. These results support theories of individual choice and motivation, and suggest that employees’ incentive choices are not necessarily aligned with the strongest motivational power.

我们在健康计划的背景下检查组织控制，组织计划是旨在改善员工身心健康的组织计划。在现场研究环境中，我们研究了三种不同类型的激励措施（现金，礼品卡和有形奖励）与健康计划绩效的关联。我们发现，成功完成计划挑战的员工体重减轻更大。我们还发现，即使选择现金奖励的次数是礼品卡的两倍以上，选择礼品卡的参与者也能最大程度地实现计划的成功。有形奖励是最不经常选择的奖励，其性能低于礼品卡，但与现金的性能相对相似。这些结果支持个人选择和动机的理论，