The effect of peer learning on teamwork: evidence from a natural field experiment
Abstract: In addition to collaboration, team formation benefits total productivity due to peer pressure or peer learning. To distinguish peer learning from peer pressure in teamwork, this paper conducts a natural field experiment in a financial company where subjects are part-time workers recruited by the company to distribute flyers to attract potential customers. The experiment consists of three stages: in the first and last stage, workers work alone; in the second stage, workers in the treatment group are teamed with another worker, while workers in the control group remain alone. We find that treatment group workers, especially those with substitute skills to co-workers, perform significantly better than control group ones in the third stage, even though there is little difference in the first stage. This implies that peer learning indeed affects productivity.