The impact of rewards and punishments in a social context: A laboratory and field experiment.

Most research on the use of sanctions has proceeded from an operant conditioning perspective. The general hypothesis explored here draws on social learning theory and examines the impact of positive and negative sanctions on group members other than the member actually sanctioned. Results of a laboratory experiment using 48 subjects in a repeated measures design and a field study with 106 respondents suggest that both rewards and punishments can have positive effects on observers' motivation, satisfaction and feelings of equity. Failure to use an appropriate sanction is associated with significantly lower levels of motivation, satisfaction and equity among task group members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]