Man's search for meaning: The case of Legos

• Published in: Journal of economic behavior & organization Vol. 67; no. 3; pp. 671 - 677
• Main Authors: Ariely, Dan, Kamenica, Emir, Prelec, Dražen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.09.2008; Elsevier; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Series: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
• Subjects: Economic theory; Experiments; Intrinsic motivation; Labor supply; Laboratories; Labour supply; Meaning; Monitoring; Motivation; Perception; Productivity; Repetitive tasks; Studies; Wage levels; Wages; Wages & salaries; J28; Labor supply; Intrinsic motivation; J30; M50; Experiments; Meaning; Monitoring

We investigate how perceived meaning influences labor supply. In a laboratory setting, we manipulate the perceived meaning of simple, repetitive tasks and find a strong influence on subjects’ labor supply. Despite the fact that the wage and the task are identical across the conditions in each experi...