We study the interaction of organizational culture and personal pro-social orientation in team work where teams compete against each other. In a computerized lab experiment with minimal group design, we assign subjects to two alternative subliminally primed organizational cultures emphasizing either self-enhancement or self-trancendence. We find that effort is highest in self-trancendent teams and prosocially oriented subjects perform better than proself-oriented under that culture. In any other value-culture-mechanism constellation, performance is worse and/or prosocials and proselves do not di¤er in provided effort. These findings point out the importance of a "triple-fit" of preferences, organizational culture and incentive mechanism.

Download the article here or read it on our SlideShare channel.