Performance ranking triggers multiple social incentives for workers. On one hand, it offers status rewards to induce the workers to increase their effort. On the other, it introduces risks of social retribution from coworkers for outperforming them. This may make the workers reduce their effort to signal social compatibility instead. This paper uses a field experiment in a sweater factory to disentangle the incentives underlying performance ranks. Treated workers receive ranks either privately or publicly. Private ranks do not have any effect, but public ranks reduce productivity. Additional evidence confrms that the productivity drop is driven by the workers' social concerns, particularly by the desire to conform to the productivity of their friends. Also, cooperation among the workers decreases but with limited effect on productivity. The paper provides evidence showing that inducing worker competition may be counterproductive for firms.
