Our study examines whether implementing a novel approach for incentivizing employees to engage in behavior desired by the company is associated with changes in employee behavior. We use proprietary data from a company using an online learning platform where employees could voluntarily participate in daily training. Employees who complete daily training modules and correctly answer quiz questions earn points that can be used to bid on gift cards through an online auction site. The company subsequently activated an option of allowing employees to also use their points to play an online slot machine with the possibility of winning the same gift cards available through the online auction site. Using psychology theory we predict that the arousal and excitement experienced from playing an online slot machine will lead to a positive association between the extent to which employees play the slot machine and the increase in: (1) the number of daily training modules they complete; and (2) the effort they exert to perform well on the related quizzes after the slot machine was introduced. Although the results support both of our predictions, we also find a significant decrease in the number of daily training modules completed by employees who chose not to play the slot machine as well as declines in both interest in playing the slot machine and training activity over time for employees who played. Overall, the effectiveness of implementing an online slot machine game on improving employee behavior seems short-term and limited to a sub-set employees who play, and may even generate negative effects for other employees who do not play. We identify implications for theory and practice.

我们的研究调查了实施一种新颖的激励员工参与公司期望行为的方法是否与员工行为的改变相关联。我们使用在线学习平台从公司获得的专有数据，员工可以自愿参加日常培训。完成日常培训模块并正确回答测验问题的员工可以获得积分，这些积分可用于通过在线拍卖网站竞标礼品卡。该公司随后激活了一个选项，允许员工也可以使用其积分来玩在线老虎机，并有可能赢得在线拍卖网站上可用的相同礼品卡。使用心理学理论，我们预测，玩在线老虎机会引起唤醒和兴奋，这将导致员工玩老虎机的程度与以下方面的增加呈正相关：（1）他们完成的日常培训模块的数量；（2）引入老虎机后，他们在相关测验中表现出色的努力。尽管结果支持了我们的两个预测，但我们发现发现选择不玩老虎机的员工完成的日常培训模块数量显着减少，并且随着时间的推移，对玩老虎机和培训活动的兴趣也有所下降对于玩过的员工。全面的，实施在线老虎机游戏对改善员工行为的有效性似乎是短期的，并且仅限于某些玩游戏的子集员工，甚至可能对其他不玩游戏的员工产生负面影响。我们确定了对理论和实践的启示。