The impact of process automation on performance

IF 1.6 3区经济学 Q2 ECONOMICS

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics Pub Date : 2025-05-19 DOI:10.1016/j.socec.2025.102377

Christina Strobel

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This paper explores how process automation affects performance, particularly in bonus-related evaluations. Using a principal–agent framework, we study the impact of predefined criteria set during system design. Specifically, we examine two scenarios in which the performance threshold for bonus payments is set either ex-ante (before performance is known) or ex-post (after performance is known). Worker performance is measured using the chosen-effort method. Our design emphasizes the role of the decision-maker in the automation process, while also considering the influence of process fairness, trust in the process, and expectations. We find that performance is significantly lower when an automated process is used, but there is no difference in performance based on who makes the decision to automate. Furthermore, we observe no variation in perceived fairness or trust between the two processes, although expectations differ. Our results suggest that while automation impacts performance, the decision-maker’s role and perceptions of fairness and trust do not significantly affect the performance, but expectations do.

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过程自动化对性能的影响

本文探讨了过程自动化如何影响绩效，特别是在奖金相关的评估方面。利用委托-代理框架，研究了在系统设计过程中预先设定的准则的影响。具体来说，我们研究了两种情况，其中奖金的绩效门槛是事前（在业绩已知之前）或事后（在业绩已知之后）设置的。员工绩效是用选择努力法来衡量的。我们的设计强调了决策者在自动化过程中的作用，同时也考虑了过程公平性、对过程的信任和期望的影响。我们发现，当使用自动化流程时，性能会显著降低，但是根据谁做出自动化决策，性能并没有差异。此外，我们观察到两个过程之间感知的公平或信任没有变化，尽管期望不同。我们的研究结果表明，虽然自动化会影响绩效，但决策者的角色和对公平和信任的看法不会显著影响绩效，但期望会影响绩效。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

2.60

自引率

12.50%

发文量

113

审稿时长

83 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly the Journal of Socio-Economics) welcomes submissions that deal with various economic topics but also involve issues that are related to other social sciences, especially psychology, or use experimental methods of inquiry. Thus, contributions in behavioral economics, experimental economics, economic psychology, and judgment and decision making are especially welcome. The journal is open to different research methodologies, as long as they are relevant to the topic and employed rigorously. Possible methodologies include, for example, experiments, surveys, empirical work, theoretical models, meta-analyses, case studies, and simulation-based analyses. Literature reviews that integrate findings from many studies are also welcome, but they should synthesize the literature in a useful manner and provide substantial contribution beyond what the reader could get by simply reading the abstracts of the cited papers. In empirical work, it is important that the results are not only statistically significant but also economically significant. A high contribution-to-length ratio is expected from published articles and therefore papers should not be unnecessarily long, and short articles are welcome. Articles should be written in a manner that is intelligible to our generalist readership. Book reviews are generally solicited but occasionally unsolicited reviews will also be published. Contact the Book Review Editor for related inquiries.