Show Me The Money, Sooner! How Faster Payments Boost Gig Workers’ Efforts and Productivity.

Despite their astounding growth in recent years, online gig platforms face key challenges to increase gig workers' working commitment. This study aims to examine the impact of a fundamental organizational design element payout frequency, which refers to the intervals at which workers access the funds they have earned. Drawing on expectancy theory, we argue that a higher payout frequency enhances both the quantity and quality of gig work. To investigate this, we analyze proprietary data from a quasi-natural experiment that involved an unexpected reduction in the payout cycle for gig workers in a specific geographic region. By employing propensity score matching and a difference-in-differences approach, we demonstrate that a shorter payout cycle led to an increase in the effort among the impacted gig workers and also resulted in improved work quality. These findings contribute to our understanding of effectively motivating and managing gig workers, ultimately influencing customer engagement on platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]