Recently Published White Papers
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Labour Cost Reduction and the Well-Being of Employees: Achieving Short-Term Cost Savings While Protecting Culture and Trust |
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 Dr. Kelsey Matthews, Professor, School of Accounting and Finance, University of Waterloo This paper examines how organizations reduce labour costs during periods of financial pressure and the implications these decisions can have for employees and organizational outcomes. Drawing on academic research and practitioner insights, it reviews common labour cost reduction practices, including downsizing, furloughs, and pay cuts, and discusses how these measures are used to achieve short-term financial savings. The analysis highlights how such actions can affect employees' attitudes and behaviours, often through perceived breaches of the psychological contract between employees and their organization. These responses may include reduced trust in management, lower morale, increased stress, and behaviours such as decreased effort, absenteeism, or turnover. The paper also outlines three guiding principles — building trust, being genuine and authentic, and maintaining flexibility — and five implementation strategies organizations can use to mitigate these effects, spanning leadership involvement, transparent communication, manager coaching and training, employee feedback channels, and ongoing employee support. |
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Unlocking Employee Potential: How Companies Can Leverage AI in Performance Management |
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 Dr. Wenquian Hu, Professor, School of Accounting and Finance, University of Waterloo This paper examines how artificial intelligence (AI) can support employee performance management while highlighting the challenges of integrating algorithmic tools with human judgement. Drawing on prior academic research and practitioner insights, it reviews how AI is being used in hiring, performance evaluation, and employee development, and how these tools may influence managerial decision-making. The analysis suggests that AI tools can improve efficiency, support more data-driven decisions, and help mitigate certain forms of bias in recruitment and evaluation processes. At the same time, research shows that employees and managers may resist algorithmic decision-making when AI systems are perceived as lacking transparency or contextual understanding. The paper concludes that AI is most effective when used to complement rather than replace human judgement, with transparency, governance, and human oversight playing key roles in building trust and ensuring responsible use. |
| Aligning Incentives with Sustainability Goals: A Managerial Perspective |
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 Dr. Adam Vitalis, Professor, School of Accounting and Finance, University of Waterloo This paper examines how organizations design environmental, social, and governance (ESG) incentives to align managerial decisions with sustainability goals. As ESG metrics become increasingly incorporated into executive compensation and organizational performance systems, the paper highlights the risk that poorly designed incentives can lead to unintended outcomes or behaviours that do not improve overall sustainability performance. Through four thought exercises grounded in prior research, the paper identifies several challenges: the influence of managers' personal norms on ESG investment decisions; the risk that mandated ESG directives trigger retaliatory behaviour among otherwise supportive agents; the tendency for emissions incentives to encourage scope shifting through outsourcing rather than genuine reduction; and the paradox that absolute emissions targets can penalize product innovation even when per-unit efficiency improves. The paper emphasizes the importance of designing ESG incentives that balance accountability, autonomy, and meaningful environmental outcomes. |
| The Future of Work: Generative Artificial Intelligence Use, Employee Performance, and Employee Engagement |
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 Dr. Khim Kelly, Kenneth G. Dixon Distinguished Professor of Accounting, University of Central Florida; and Dr. Adam Presslee, Jr. Wadsworth Chair Associate Professor of Accounting, University of Waterloo. This paper examines how employees are using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) at work and how its use relates to job performance and employee engagement. Based on survey data from 880 employees across industries, the study finds that GenAI adoption has grown rapidly, with 76% of respondents reporting that they use GenAI tools for work and nearly 60% using them weekly. The findings show that GenAI use is associated with higher job performance, job satisfaction, and work engagement. Employees who are already highly engaged or high-performing are more likely to adopt GenAI and benefit from it, suggesting that AI use may reinforce existing performance differences within organizations. The study also identifies three risks GenAI adoption poses to employee engagement — job insecurity, opacity and accountability concerns, and skill erosion — and offers five strategies to address them, including reskilling investment, employee-centric design, building trust, recognizing adoption, and measuring downstream outcomes. Supervisor support and employer-provided training are identified as particularly important levers for encouraging broad-based adoption. |
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Target Setting: Influential Factors and Employee Motivation |
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 Dr. Tyler Thomas, Professor, School of Accounting and Finance, University of Waterloo This paper examines how organizations set performance targets for employees and the factors that influence this process. Drawing on prior academic and practitioner research, it reviews several elements that shape target-setting decisions, including target ratcheting based on past performance, managerial discretion in adjusting targets or compensation, employee retention concerns, and the degree of employee participation in the process. The analysis also considers how transparency in targets, variation in target difficulty, and managers' perceptions of employees' tasks can affect the targets that are ultimately established. Notably, while over 70 percent of firms surveyed identified employee motivation as the primary goal of target-setting, almost 70 percent acknowledged they were not highly effective at achieving it. The research shows that various factors can affect target-setting decisions and target difficulty, which can influence employee motivation. Understanding these factors can provide a basis for more effectively managing the target-setting process and motivating greater employee and organizational performance. |
Highlighted
| Adam Presslee's forthcoming publications (all received funding by the CSPM) and forthcoming textbook |
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| Tyler Thomas has a new publication! |
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Workers often struggle to fully appreciate the quality of their performance. Rather, workers use the measure of their performance that is realized from their firm’s measurement system, which is typically imperfect, as a guide to do so. This study by Tyler Thomas examines how workers’ perceptions about their compensation depend on the realized measure of their performance.
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| Strategic Bias in Team Members’ Communication about Relative Contributions: The Effects of Voluntary Communication and Explanation |
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This study, by Kelsey Matthews, Leslie Berger, Lan Guo, and Christopher Wong, uses an experiment to investigate how team members communicate their relative contributions to managers to help with the allocation of team bonuses. We find that low-ability team members are more likely to exaggerate their contributions when the choice to report is voluntary, compared to mandatory. However, requiring explanations for their communication significantly reduces this bias. Our study offers practical advice for managers seeking to strengthen the informativeness of relative contribution communication and foster more favorable team dynamics. Read their paper: Strategic Bias in Team Members’ Communication about Relative Contributions: The Effects of Voluntary Communication and Explanation |
More Research
Adam Presslee's paper funded by the CSPM was accepted at Management Science for publication
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The Effects of Strategic Alignment and Strategic Clarity on Multidimensional Task Performance
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This study, by Tyler Thomas and Steve Smith, uses an experiment to evaluate how workers respond to trade-offs in strategic objectives depending on how clearly the strategy is communicated and how aligned the performance measures are with the strategy. We find when the strategy is communicated generally (or vaguely) to workers, performance measures fully aligned with the strategy lead to greater worker performance. However, this is not the case when the strategy is communicated clearly, as greater worker performance is driven by performance measures that are less aligned with the strategy. This evidence suggests firms with strategic trade-offs can promote worker performance by either clearly communicating the strategy or implementing performance measures that fully align with the strategy, as implementing both highlights the strategic trade-offs involved which adversely affects workers’ performance Read their paper: The effects of strategic alignment and strategic clarity on multidimensional task performance |
Strategic Bias in Team Members’ Communication about Relative Contributions: The Effects of Voluntary Communication and Explanation
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This study, by Kelsey Matthews, Leslie Berger, Lan Guo, and Christopher Wong, uses an experiment to investigate how team members communicate their relative contributions to managers to help with the allocation of team bonuses. We find that low-ability team members are more likely to exaggerate their contributions when the choice to report is voluntary, compared to mandatory. However, requiring explanations for their communication significantly reduces this bias. Our study offers practical advice for managers seeking to strengthen the informativeness of relative contribution communication and foster more favorable team dynamics. Read their paper: Strategic Bias in Team Members’ Communication about Relative Contributions: The Effects of Voluntary Communication and Explanation |
Decoding effort: Toward a measure – and a better understanding – of effort intensity in accounting research
 This study by Alan Webb is forthcoming in Management Accounting Research and is co-authored with Gary Hecht, Kristan Rotaru, Axel Schulz and Kristy Towry. The study introduces pupillometry – the measurement of pupil diameter changes – as a direct approach to capturing effort intensity in management accounting research. Traditional approaches using self-reports or performance-based proxies have limited researchers’ ability to study how management control systems influence behavior through effort. Using a controlled experiment with a decoding task, we examine how piece-rate versus flat-wage compensation influences effort intensity and performance. Our findings show that pupil dilation partially mediates the relationship between incentives and performance, with this mediation strongest in early experimental rounds before weakening over time. This dynamic pattern suggests that while incentives initially influence performance through effort intensity, other mechanisms such as implicit learning emerge in later rounds. Beyond demonstrating pupillometry’s validity for measuring effort intensity, we highlight its potential applications across management accounting research streams, enabling researchers to better understand how control system elements influence behavior through effort. Read their paper: Decoding effort: Toward a measure – and a better understanding – of effort intensity in accounting research |
The interactive effect of organizational identification and reward type on employees’ reward valuation.
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This study, by Adam Presslee, Weiming Liu, and Khim Kelly, uses two experiments and a survey to examine how an aspect of organizations culture - the extent employees experience a sense of belonging with their organization - impacts how employees value their performance-contingent rewards. We find that this sense of belonging increases employees valuation of non-cash rewards because it results in the rewards being viewed more as a gift rather than an economic exchange. We do not find such effects when the reward is cash. This evidence suggests that firms using non-cash rewards to motivate their employees will benefit from also increasing employees sense of belonging (e.g., company events, collaborative culture) with the firm. |
Adverse Effects of Confidence in Complex Cost Systems Amid Competition
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Tyler Thomas' paper coauthored with Ella Mae Matsumura and Dimitri Yatsenko entitled, ‘Adverse Effects of Confidence in Complex Cost Systems Amid Competition’, was published in Advances in Management Accounting in October 2023. Many organizations seek to increase the accuracy of their costing systems through increased complexity. However, even complex costing systems can be prone to impactful inaccuracies. They find in their study that if inaccuracies exist in a costing system which adversely affect the firm, managers are less likely to attribute the adverse effect to issues with the costing system with greater system complexity, as managers confidence in the system increases with complexity. If signals of cost system inaccuracies are more likely to be ignored with greater cost system complexity, these issues can persist, which can negatively impact the firm. |
Creativity during threat to organizational survival: The influence of employee creativity on downsizing survival selection
Employee creativity is important for organizational survival. However, when organizations downsize, do organizations retain their most radically creative employees? Research by Janet Boekhorst and her co-authors Michael Halinski (Toronto Metropolitan University), David Allen (Texas Christian University & University of Warwick), and Jessica Good (Athabasca University) suggests not. During times of turmoil, managers of creative employees appear to make rigid decisions and consequently evaluate the performance of their most creative employees more harshly. Specifically, this research team finds that radically creative workers are likely to be downsized whereas incrementally creative workers are likely to be retained during downsizing. This finding may partially explain why organizations often seem to struggle after downsizing.
Tangible rewards for more than just productivity: Examining Canadian public accounting firms’ rewards programs
In this paper, Krista Fiolleau and her co-authors Carolyn MacTavish and Giselle Obendorf, investigate the nature and composition of PA firms’ tangible rewards programs and provide a detailed description of their programs and what actions are being rewarded. We collect archival data on the use of tangible rewards from each of the Big 4 PA firms and three of the next four largest international accounting firms in Canada. We find that firms use their tangible rewards programs for “building a culture of recognition,” for performance incentives, and for employee and firm development, thus rewarding a broad set of measures beyond the incentive measures for hours worked.
Here is a link and summary of the paper: Fiolleau, K., MacTavish, C., & Obendorf, G. (2023). Tangible Rewards for More than Just Productivity: Examining Canadian Public Accounting Firms’ Rewards Programs. Accounting Perspectives.
Sustainability in the Meeting, Incentive, Conference, and Event Industry
Allan Schweyer, Incentive Research Foundation and Adam Presslee, in partnership with Destinations Canada, co-authored "Sustainability in the Meeting, Incentive, Conference, and Event Industry." This white paper stresses the importance for professionals in the Meeting, Incentive, Conference, and Event industry to consider sustainability objectives when organizing their activities. This paper was sponsored by the Incentive Research Foundation.
Read their paper: Sustainability in the Meeting, Incentive, Conference, and Event Industry
The effect of team-based recognition on employee engagement and effort. Management Accounting Research
Adam Presslee, Greg Richins, Sasan Saiy and Alan Webb conducted a field study at six fast-food franchise restaurant locations to examine the efficacy of adopting a team-based, non-monetary recognition (i.e., thank-you card, token gift) program. They found the adoption of the team recognition program increases both employee engagement and effort. Their findings should be of interest to compensation system designers in settings where employee motivation is low and individual performance is costly or difficult to measure. They show that team-based recognition can be effective in such settings. In so doing, they also extend the academic literature that has primarily focused on the behavioral effects of individual-level recognition.
Read their paper: The effect of team-based recognition on employee engagement and effort. Management Accounting Research
The pragmatic side of workplace heroics: a self-interest perspective on responding to mistreatment in work teams
Third-partyreactions to workplace mistreatment have often focused on moral motivations, but Janet Boekhorst and her co-author Shayna Frawley suggest that self-interest influences third-party responses to mistreatment within work teams. Specifically, some third parties undertake a decision-making process that involves a cost-benefit analysis to help them decide how to respond in a manner that serves their interests.
For more information: The pragmatic side of workplace heroics: a self-interest perspective on responding to mistreatment in work teams
Star light, but why not so bright? A process model of how incumbents influence star newcomer performance
Star performers do not always succeed after moving to new organizations. To shed insight into why this may occur, Janet Boekhorst and her co-authors Nada Basir and Shavin Malhotra suggest that nonstars may play a critical role in shaping the performance of new star hires, which has important implications for how new star hires should be brought into a new organization.
Read more at: Star light, but why not so bright? A process model of how incumbents influence star newcomer performance
Goal progress velocity as a determinant of shortcut behaviors.
Employees that experience slow progress towards workplace goals tend to pursue shortcuts, which can lead to poor-quality work, accidents, and large-scale disasters. Abigail Scholer and her co-authors Vincent Phan, Midori Nishioka, and James Beck find that employees turn to short cuts because they are frustrated by their lack of progress and they feel goal attainment is unlikely.
Read more at: Goal progress velocity as a determinant of shortcut behaviors.
Organizational social activities and knowledge management behaviors: An affective events perspective
Although research on organizational social activities often points to positive effects, this is not always the case. Janet Boekhorst and her co-authors Michael Halinski (Toronto Metropolitan University) and Jessica Good (Athabasca University) find that positive affect helps to explain why organizational social activities affect knowledge management behaviors in expected and unexpected ways.
Read more at: Organizational social activities and knowledge management behaviors: An affective events perspective
Motivating Employees with Goal-Based Prosocial Rewards
Doing good can be good for business. Adam Presslee and his co-authors Leslie Berger and Lan Guo find that employees rewarded for goal attainment with a donation to charity outperform those rewarded with cash. This study provides some preliminary evidence that rewarding employees with such prosocial rewards can be a win-win-win: employees win because they feel good about themselves, shareholders win because of the increased performance and reputation, and society wins because of the increased support for charity.
View the full paper: Motivating Employees with Goal-Based Prosocial Rewards
Points-Based Reward Programs and Employee Motivation
A 2021 field study by Aaron McCullough, Adam Presslee (CSPM) and Allan Schweyer finds that employees working for companies that use ‘redeemable points’ reward programs to motivate performance report higher levels of intrinsic motivation, have a greater sense of belonging with their organization, more engagement, and satisfaction with their rewards and recognition. Their interviews with human resource managers show that the motivational advantage of redeemable points comes from both the meaning behind the point rewards (i.e., how they are rewarded) and what the point rewards are redeemable for. Thus, managers can use redeemable point rewards to motivate employees, but it is important to first understand the factors that affect employees perceptions of the meaningfulness of the point rewards.
For the full study see: Points-Based Reward Programs and Employee Motivation
Research Forum on COVID-19: Implications for Audits and the Audit Profession
Tim Bauer and two co-authors study group judgment and decision making in auditing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Bauer and his colleagues’ research focuses on the audit context, the article stresses its relevance to many businesses, such as how to actively build trust or identity in work teams when the workplace has gone virtual and co-workers rarely see each other outside of Zoom meetings.
Read more at: Group Judgment and Decision Making in Auditing: Research in the Time of COVID-19 and Beyond
When and why tangible rewards can motivate greater effort than cash rewards: An analysis of four attribute differences
Firms often use tangible rewards (e.g., gift cards, merchandise) in lieu of cash rewards to motivate employees. Adam Presslee and his co-author Willie Choi find that such tangible rewards can lead to greater effort but that it depends on whether the tangible reward attributes lead the reward to be thought of as distinct from salary. Four tangible reward attributes that affect this distinction include: ease of reward use (fungibility), hedonic nature of the reward (want vs. need), the novelty of the reward, and how the reward is presented.
Read more at: When and why tangible rewards can motivate greater effort than cash rewards: An analysis of four attribute differences
Using Gift Card Rewards to Motivate Employees
A recent study published in the Journal of Management Accounting Research (2022) by Tim Mitchell (University of Massachusetts), Adam Presslee (CSPM), Axel Schulz (La Trobe University) and Alan Webb (CSPM) examines the effects of proving gift cards as performance-based rewards on effort. The authors find that individuals work harder when the gift card rewards can be used for fun purchases such as dining out compared to when the gift card reward is limited to purchasing necessities (e.g., groceries). The insights provided by this study should be useful for managers considering which types of gift cards are likely to be more motivating for employees when used as performance-based rewards. For a copy of the full study contact Alan Webb – a2webb@uwaterloo.ca