The quality of work environment: what consequences on the employees effort

Abstract

According to research on the quality of employment, the work environment can have an impact on individuals perception of their employment and thus influence their behavior. Therefore, a good atmosphere at work should positively affect the level of effort of employees. Our paper examines this hypothesis using the Computerization and Organizational Change survey (COI, 2006), but distinguishing quantitative effort and cognitive effort. We use methods of matching by propensity score to control for selection effects. We find a negative correlation between good working atmosphere and productive effort, and no link with cognitive effort.