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Fixed Pay for Output or Time? Implications for Work Speed and Quality

Carolyn Deller & Santiago Gallino

Journal of Accounting Research2026https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-679x.70049article
FT50UTD24AJG 4*ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

This paper explores the influence of two fixed payment arrangements—time‐based and output‐based wages—on worker behavior and performance in a multidimensional task setting. We examine how these wages affect the time workers spend on individual units of a task and their work quality. We contend that fixed compensation schemes can implicitly communicate standards of acceptable work. Our empirical evidence from MTurk experiments and a laboratory experiment indicates that workers on output‐based wages deliver higher quality and spend more time on individual units than their time‐based counterparts. These findings are consistent with output‐based wages, implying a standard of acceptable quality—without a conflicting standard of speed—to which workers respond. Our results emphasize the power of implicit cues from fixed compensation schemes and offer insights for employers, suggesting the choice between output‐ and time‐based wages should be informed by whether quality or turnaround time is valued more.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-679x.70049

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@article{carolyn2026,
  title        = {{Fixed Pay for Output or Time? Implications for Work Speed and Quality}},
  author       = {Carolyn Deller & Santiago Gallino},
  journal      = {Journal of Accounting Research},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-679x.70049},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.