The Commission Effect

• In Event: 4.6 Influences of Numerical and Scale Formats on Judgments

Short Abstract

We show that employees (e.g., salespeople) evaluate the same monetary payout more [less] favorably if it stems from a high [low] commission rate and a low [high] gross sales amount. Five experiments document this commission effect and attribute it to the greater evaluability of commission rates over gross sales amounts.

Authors

• Mathew S. Isaac, Seattle University, USA

• Julio Sevilla, University of Georgia, USA

• Rajesh Bagchi, Virginia Tech, USA