Management Accounting Section Midyear Meeting

All Show and No Know? The Effects of Outcome Transparency and Learning Path on Employee Learning Behaviors

• In Event: Teams and Employee Performance (Experimental)

Abstract

Using an experiment, we examine the effects of outcome transparency and learning path on employee learning. Firms implement employee learning programs to improve their employees’ knowledge. Many firms publicly recognize employees’ learning outcomes or achievements in such programs to motivate greater learning. However, we predict and find such outcome transparency can be costly by increasing employees’ propensity to engage in ineffective learning behaviors (cheat). Further, we predict and find this propensity is greater when learning programs involve standardized learning paths (program content is identical for all employees) than personalized learning paths (program content is tailored to employees’ interests, knowledge, and skills), as personalized learning paths offset the effects of outcome transparency on employee learning by increasing employee curiosity. Thus, when designing their employee learning programs, firms must be mindful of the harmful effects of outcome transparency on learning behaviors, and including a personalized learning path can help.

Authors

• Eddy Cardinaels, Tilburg University

• Jongwoon Choi, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Qinnan Ruan, Tilburg University