Personal und Organisation

Fringe Benefits

Working on the project:

Kerstin Pull

In cooperation with:

Dieter Sadowski (IAAEG Trier), Uschi Backes-Gellner (Universität Zürich)

Description:

The provision of fringe benefits is theoretically accounted for by a set of differencing explanations. In various (mainly German) papers the logic of fringe benefit provision is being highlighted. The only English publication on the subject (PULL/SADOWSKI 1997) refers to a gift exchange explanation where fringe benefits are offered with the expectation that employees will pay back this generosity through an increased motivation and loyalty and hence higher productivity levels. An empirical test of the different theoretical explanations of fringe benefit provision revealed that fringe benefits are in fact mainly used to increase the productivity of employees. The most prominent explanation of fringe benefit provision, i.e. the idea of the "benevolent employer" seeking to care for his employees, however, was rejected.

Publications: