history of hawthorne experiment

Hawthorne Effect: Definition, How It Works, and How to Avoid It

Ayesh Perera

B.A, MTS, Harvard University

Ayesh Perera, a Harvard graduate, has worked as a researcher in psychology and neuroscience under Dr. Kevin Majeres at Harvard Medical School.

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Key Takeaways

• The Hawthorne effect refers to the increase in the performance of individuals who are noticed, watched, and paid attention to by researchers or supervisors.
• In 1958, Henry A. Landsberger coined the term ‘Hawthorne effect’ while evaluating a series of studies at a plant near Chicago, Western Electric’s Hawthorne Works.
• The novelty effect, demand characteristics and feedback on performance may explain what is widely perceived as the Hawthorne effect.
• Although the possible implications of the Hawthorne effect remain relevant in many contexts, recent research findings challenge many of the original conclusions concerning the phenomenon.

The Hawthorne effect refers to a tendency in some individuals to alter their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed (Fox et al., 2007).

This phenomenon implies that when people become aware that they are subjects in an experiment, the attention they receive from the experimenters may cause them to change their conduct.

Hawthorne Studies

The Hawthorne effect is named after a set of studies conducted at Western Electric’s Hawthorne Plant in Cicero during the 1920s. The Scientists included in this research team were Elton Mayo (Psychologist), Roethlisberger and Whilehead (Sociologists), and William Dickson (company representative).

There are 4 separate experiments in Hawthorne Studies:

Illumination Experiments (1924-1927) Relay Assembly Test Room Experiments (1927-1932) Experiments in Interviewing Workers (1928- 1930) Bank Wiring Room Experiments (1931-1932)

The Hawthorne Experiments, conducted at Western Electric’s Hawthorne plant in the 1920s and 30s, fundamentally influenced management theories.

They highlighted the importance of psychological and social factors in workplace productivity, such as employee attention and group dynamics, leading to a more human-centric approach in management practices.

Illumination Experiment

The first and most influential of these studies is known as the “Illumination Experiment”, conducted between 1924 and 1927 (sponsored by the National Research Council).

The company had sought to ascertain whether there was a relationship between productivity and the work environments (e.g., the level of lighting in a factory).

During the first study, a group of workers who made electrical relays experienced several changes in lighting. Their performance was observed in response to the minutest alterations in illumination.

What the original researchers found was that any change in a variable, such as lighting levels, led to an improvement in productivity. This was true even when the change was negative, such as a return to poor lighting.

However, these gains in productivity disappeared when the attention faded (Roethlisberg & Dickson, 1939). The outcome implied that the increase in productivity was merely the result of a motivational effect on the company’s workers (Cox, 2000).

Their awareness of being observed had apparently led them to increase their output. It seemed that increased attention from supervisors could improve job performance.

Hawthorne Experiment by Elton Mayo

Relay assembly test room experiment.

Spurred by these initial findings, a series of experiments were conducted at the plant over the next eight years. From 1928 to 1932, Elton Mayo (1880–1949) and his colleagues began a series of studies examining changes in work structure (e.g., changes in rest periods, length of the working day, and other physical conditions.) in a group of five women.

The results of the Elton Mayo studies reinforced the initial findings of the illumination experiment. Freedman (1981, p. 49) summarizes the results of the next round of experiments as follows:

“Regardless of the conditions, whether there were more or fewer rest periods, longer or shorter workdays…the women worked harder and more efficiently.”

Analysis of the findings by Landsberger (1958) led to the term the Hawthorne effect , which describes the increase in the performance of individuals who are noticed, watched, and paid attention to by researchers or supervisors.

Bank Wiring Observation Room Study

In a separate study conducted between 1927 and 1932, six women working together to assemble telephone relays were observed (Harvard Business School, Historical Collections).

Following the secret measuring of their output for two weeks, the women were moved to a special experiment room. The experiment room, which they would occupy for the rest of the study, had a supervisor who discussed various changes to their work.

The subsequent alterations the women experienced included breaks varied in length and regularity, the provision (and the non-provision) of food, and changes to the length of the workday.

For the most part, changes to these variables (including returns to the original state) were accompanied by an increase in productivity.

The researchers concluded that the women’s awareness of being monitored, as well as the team spirit engendered by the close environment improved their productivity (Mayo, 1945).

Subsequently, a related study was conducted by W. Lloyd Warner and Elton Mayo, anthropologists from Harvard (Henslin, 2008).

They carried out their experiment on 14 men who assembled telephone switching equipment. The men were placed in a room along with a full-time observer who would record all that transpired. The workers were to be paid for their individual productivity.

However, the surprising outcome was a decrease in productivity. The researchers discovered that the men had become suspicious that an increase in productivity would lead the company to lower their base rate or find grounds to fire some of the workers.

Additional observation unveiled the existence of smaller cliques within the main group. Moreover, these cliques seemed to have their own rules for conduct and distinct means to enforce them.

The results of the study seemed to indicate that workers were likely to be influenced more by the social force of their peer groups than the incentives of their superiors.

This outcome was construed not necessarily as challenging the previous findings but as accounting for the potentially stronger social effect of peer groups.

Hawthorne Effect Examples

Managers in the workplace.

The studies discussed above reveal much about the dynamic relationship between productivity and observation.

On the one hand, letting employees know that they are being observed may engender a sense of accountability. Such accountability may, in turn, improve performance.

However, if employees perceive ulterior motives behind the observation, a different set of outcomes may ensue. If, for instance, employees reason that their increased productivity could harm their fellow workers or adversely impact their earnings eventually, they may not be actuated to improve their performance.

This suggests that while observation in the workplace may yield salutary gains, it must still account for other factors such as the camaraderie among the workers, the existent relationship between the management and the employees, and the compensation system.

A study that investigated the impact of awareness of experimentation on pupil performance (based on direct and indirect cues) revealed that the Hawthorne effect is either nonexistent in children between grades 3 and 9, was not evoked by the intended cues, or was not sufficiently strong to alter the results of the experiment (Bauernfeind & Olson, 1973).

However, if the Hawthorne effect were actually present in other educational contexts, such as in the observation of older students or teachers, it would have important implications.

For instance, if teachers were aware that they were being observed and evaluated via camera or an actual person sitting inside the class, it is not difficult to imagine how they might alter their approach.

Likewise, if older students were informed that their classroom participation would be observed, they might have more incentives to pay diligent attention to the lessons.

Alternative Explanations

Despite the possibility of the Hawthorne effect and its seeming impact on performance, alternative accounts cannot be discounted.

The Novelty Effect

The Novelty Effect denotes the tendency of human performance to show improvements in response to novel stimuli in the environment (Clark & Sugrue, 1988). Such improvements result not from any advances in learning or growth, but from a heightened interest in the new stimuli.

Demand Characteristics

Demand characteristics describe the phenomenon in which the subjects of an experiment would draw conclusions concerning the experiment’s objectives, and either subconsciously or consciously alter their behavior as a result (Orne, 2009). The intentions of the participant—which may range from striving to support the experimenter’s implicit agenda to attempting to utterly undermine the credibility of the study—would play a vital role herein.

Feedback on Performance

It is possible for regular evaluations by the experimenters to function as a scoreboard that enhances productivity. The mere fact that the workers are better acquainted with their performance may actuate them to increase their output.

Despite the seeming implications of the Hawthorne effect in a variety of contexts, recent reviews of the initial studies seem to challenge the original conclusions.

For instance, the data from the first experiment were long thought to have been destroyed. Rice (1982) notes that “the original [illumination] research data somehow disappeared.”

Gale (2004, p. 439) states that “these particular experiments were never written up, the original study reports were lost, and the only contemporary account of them derives from a few paragraphs in a trade journal.”

However, Steven Levitt and John List of the University of Chicago were able to uncover and evaluate these data (Levitt & List, 2011). They found that the supposedly notable patterns were entirely fictional despite the possible manifestations of the Hawthorne effect.

They proposed excess responsiveness to variations induced by the experimenter, relative to variations occurring naturally, as an alternative means to test for the Hawthorne effect.

Another study sought to determine whether the Hawthorne effect actually exists, and if so, under what conditions it does, and how large it could be (McCambridge, Witton & Elbourne, 2014).

Following the systemic review of the available evidence on the Harthorne effect, the researchers concluded that while research participation may indeed impact the behaviors being investigated, discovering more about its operation, its magnitude, and its mechanisms require further investigation.

How to Reduce the Hawthorne Effect

The credibility of experiments is essential to advances in any scientific discipline. However, when the results are significantly influenced by the mere fact that the subjects were observed, testing hypotheses becomes exceedingly difficult.

As such, several strategies may be employed to reduce the Hawthorne Effect.

Discarding the Initial Observations :

• Participants in studies often take time to acclimate themselves to their new environments.
• During this period, the alterations in performance may stem more from a temporary discomfort with the new environment than from an actual variable.
• Greater familiarity with the environment over time, however, would decrease the effect of this transition and reveal the raw effects of the variables whose impact the experimenters are observing.

Using Control Groups:

• When the subjects experiencing the intervention and those in the control group are treated in the same manner in an experiment, the Hawthorne effect would likely influence both groups equivalently.
• Under such circumstances, the impact of the intervention can be more readily identified and analyzed.
• Where ethically permissible, the concealment of information and covert data collection can be used to mitigate the Hawthorne effect.
• Observing the subjects without informing them, or conducting experiments covertly, often yield more reliable outcomes. The famous marshmallow experiment at Stanford University, which was conducted initially on 3 to 5-year-old children, is a striking example.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did the researchers, who identified the hawthorne effect, see as evidence that employee performance was influenced by something other than the physical work conditions.

The researchers of the Hawthorne Studies noticed that employee productivity increased not only in improved conditions (like better lighting), but also in unchanged or even worsened conditions.

They concluded that the mere fact of being observed and feeling valued (the so-called “Hawthorne Effect”) significantly impacted workers’ performance, independent from physical work conditions.

What is the Hawthorne effect in simple terms?

The Hawthorne Effect is when people change or improve their behavior because they know they’re being watched.

It’s named after a study at the Hawthorne Works factory, where researchers found that workers became more productive when they realized they were being observed, regardless of the actual working conditions.

Bauernfeind, R. H., & Olson, C. J. (1973). Is the Hawthorne effect in educational experiments a chimera ? The Phi Delta Kappan, 55 (4), 271-273.

Clark, R. E., & Sugrue, B. M. (1988). Research on instructional media 1978-88. In D. Ely (Ed.), Educational Media and Technology Yearbook, 1994. Volume 20. Libraries Unlimited, Inc., PO Box 6633, Englewood, CO 80155-6633.

Cox, E. (2001).  Psychology for A-level . Oxford University Press.

Fox, N. S., Brennan, J. S., & Chasen, S. T. (2008). Clinical estimation of fetal weight and the Hawthorne effect. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 141 (2), 111-114.

Gale, E.A.M. (2004). The Hawthorne studies – a fable for our times? Quarterly Journal of Medicine, (7) ,439-449.

Henslin, J. M., Possamai, A. M., Possamai-Inesedy, A. L., Marjoribanks, T., & Elder, K. (2015). Sociology: A down to earth approach . Pearson Higher Education AU.

Landsberger, H. A. (1958). Hawthorne Revisited : Management and the Worker, Its Critics, and Developments in Human Relations in Industry.

Levitt, S. D., & List, J. A. (2011). Was there really a Hawthorne effect at the Hawthorne plant? An analysis of the original illumination experiments. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3 (1), 224-38.

Mayo, E. (1945). The human problems of an industrial civilization . New York: The Macmillan Company.

McCambridge, J., Witton, J., & Elbourne, D. R. (2014). Systematic review of the Hawthorne effect: new concepts are needed to study research participation effects. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 67 (3), 267-277.

McCarney, R., Warner, J., Iliffe, S., Van Haselen, R., Griffin, M., & Fisher, P. (2007). The Hawthorne Effect: a randomised, controlled trial. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 7 (1), 1-8.

Rice, B. (1982). The Hawthorne defect: Persistence of a flawed theory. Psychology Today, 16 (2), 70-74.

Orne, M. T. (2009). Demand characteristics and the concept of quasi-controls. Artifacts in behavioral research: Robert Rosenthal and Ralph L. Rosnow’s classic books, 110 , 110-137.

Further Information

• Wickström, G., & Bendix, T. (2000). The” Hawthorne effect”—what did the original Hawthorne studies actually show?. Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health, 363-367.
• Levitt, S. D., & List, J. A. (2011). Was there really a Hawthorne effect at the Hawthorne plant? An analysis of the original illumination experiments. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3(1), 224-38.
• Oswald, D., Sherratt, F., & Smith, S. (2014). Handling the Hawthorne effect: The challenges surrounding a participant observer. Review of social studies, 1(1), 53-73.
• Bloombaum, M. (1983). The Hawthorne experiments: a critique and reanalysis of the first statistical interpretation by Franke and Kaul. Sociological Perspectives, 26(1), 71-88.

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How the Hawthorne Effect Works

Nick David / Getty Images

• Does It Really Exist?

Other Explanations

• How to Avoid It

The Hawthorne effect is a term referring to the tendency of some people to work harder and perform better when they are participants in an experiment.

The term is often used to suggest that individuals may change their behavior due to the attention they are receiving from researchers rather than because of any manipulation of independent variables .

The Hawthorne effect has been widely discussed in psychology textbooks, particularly those devoted to industrial and organizational psychology . However, research suggests that many of the original claims made about the effect may be overstated.

History of the Hawthorne Effect

The Hawthorne effect was first described in the 1950s by researcher Henry A. Landsberger during his analysis of experiments conducted during the 1920s and 1930s.

Why Is It Called the Hawthorne Effect?

The phenomenon is named after the location where the experiments took place, Western Electric’s Hawthorne Works electric company just outside of Hawthorne, Illinois.

The electric company had commissioned research to determine if there was a relationship between productivity and work environments.

The original purpose of the Hawthorne studies was to examine how different aspects of the work environment, such as lighting, the timing of breaks, and the length of the workday , had on worker productivity.

Increased Productivity

In the most famous of the experiments, the focus of the study was to determine if increasing or decreasing the amount of light that workers received would have an effect on how productive workers were during their shifts. In the original study, employee productivity seemed to increase due to the changes but then decreased once the experiment was over.

What the researchers in the original studies found was that almost any change to the experimental conditions led to increases in productivity. For example, productivity increased when illumination was decreased to the levels of candlelight, when breaks were eliminated entirely, and when the workday was lengthened.

The researchers concluded that workers were responding to the increased attention from supervisors. This suggested that productivity increased due to attention and not because of changes in the experimental variables.

Findings May Not Be Accurate

Landsberger defined the Hawthorne effect as a short-term improvement in performance caused by observing workers. Researchers and managers quickly latched on to these findings. Later studies suggested, however, that these initial conclusions did not reflect what was really happening.

The term Hawthorne effect remains widely in use to describe increases in productivity due to participation in a study, yet additional studies have often offered little support or have even failed to find the effect at all.

Examples of the Hawthorne Effect

The following are real-life examples of the Hawthorne effect in various settings:

• Healthcare : One study found that patients with dementia who were being treated with Ginkgo biloba showed better cognitive functioning when they received more intensive follow-ups with healthcare professionals. Patients who received minimal follow-up had less favorable outcomes.
• School : Research found that hand washing rates at a primary school increased as much as 23 percent when another person was present with the person washing their hands—in this study, being watched led to improved performance.
• Workplace : When a supervisor is watching an employee work, that employee is likely to be on their "best behavior" and work harder than they would without being watched.

Does the Hawthorne Effect Exist?

Later research into the Hawthorne effect suggested that the original results may have been overstated. In 2009, researchers at the University of Chicago reanalyzed the original data and found that other factors also played a role in productivity and that the effect originally described was weak at best.

Researchers also uncovered the original data from the Hawthorne studies and found that many of the later reported claims about the findings are simply not supported by the data. They did find, however, more subtle displays of a possible Hawthorne effect.

While some additional studies failed to find strong evidence of the Hawthorne effect, a 2014 systematic review published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology found that research participation effects do exist.

After looking at the results of 19 different studies, the researchers concluded that these effects clearly happen, but more research needs to be done in order to determine how they work, the impact they have, and why they occur.

While the Hawthorne effect may have an influence on participant behavior in experiments, there may also be other factors that play a part in these changes. Some factors that may influence improvements in productivity include:

• Demand characteristics : In experiments, researchers sometimes display subtle clues that let participants know what they are hoping to find. As a result, subjects will alter their behavior to help confirm the experimenter’s  hypothesis .
• Novelty effects : The novelty of having experimenters observing behavior might also play a role. This can lead to an initial increase in performance and productivity that may eventually level off as the experiment continues.
• Performance feedback : In situations involving worker productivity, increased attention from experimenters also resulted in increased performance feedback. This increased feedback might actually lead to an improvement in productivity.

While the Hawthorne effect has often been overstated, the term is still useful as a general explanation for psychological factors that can affect how people behave in an experiment.

How to Reduce the Hawthorne Effect

In order for researchers to trust the results of experiments, it is essential to minimize potential problems and sources of bias like the Hawthorne effect.

So what can researchers do to minimize these effects in their experimental studies?

• Conduct experiments in natural settings : One way to help eliminate or minimize demand characteristics and other potential sources of experimental bias is to utilize naturalistic observation techniques. However, this is simply not always possible.
• Make responses completely anonymous : Another way to combat this form of bias is to make the participants' responses in an experiment completely anonymous or confidential. This way, participants may be less likely to alter their behavior as a result of taking part in an experiment.
• Get familiar with the people in the study : People may not alter their behavior as significantly if they are being watched by someone they are familiar with. For instance, an employee is less likely to work harder if the supervisor watching them is always watching.

Many of the original findings of the Hawthorne studies have since been found to be either overstated or erroneous, but the term has become widely used in psychology, economics, business, and other areas.

More recent findings support the idea that these effects do happen, but how much of an impact they actually have on results remains in question. Today, the term is still often used to refer to changes in behavior that can result from taking part in an experiment.

Schwartz D, Fischhoff B, Krishnamurti T, Sowell F. The Hawthorne effect and energy awareness .  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A . 2013;110(38):15242-15246. doi:10.1073/pnas.1301687110

McCambridge J, Witton J, Elbourne DR. Systematic review of the Hawthorne effect: New concepts are needed to study research participation effects .  J Clin Epidemiol . 2014;67(3):267-277. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2013.08.015

Letrud K, Hernes S. Affirmative citation bias in scientific myth debunking: A three-in-one case study . Bornmann L, ed. PLoS ONE. 2019;14(9):e0222213. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0222213

McCarney R, Warner J, Iliffe S, van Haselen R, Griffin M, Fisher P. The Hawthorne effect: a randomised, controlled trial .  BMC Med Res Methodol . 2007;7:30. doi:10.1186/1471-2288-7-30

Pickering AJ, Blum AG, Breiman RF, Ram PK, Davis J. Video surveillance captures student hand hygiene behavior, reactivity to observation, and peer influence in Kenyan primary schools . Gupta V, ed. PLoS ONE. 2014;9(3):e92571. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092571

Understanding Your Users . Elsevier ; 2015. doi:10.1016/c2013-0-13611-2

Levitt S, List, JA. Was there really a Hawthorne effect at the Hawthorne plant? An analysis of the original illumination experiments . 2009. University of Chicago. NBER Working Paper No. w15016,

Levitt, SD & List, JA. Was there really a Hawthorne effect at the Hawthorne plant? An analysis of the original illumination experiments . American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. 2011;3:224-238. doi:10.2307/25760252

McCambridge J, de Bruin M, Witton J.  The effects of demand characteristics on research participant behaviours in non-laboratory settings: A systematic review .  PLoS ONE . 2012;7(6):e39116. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039116

Chwo GSM, Marek MW, Wu WCV. Meta-analysis of MALL research and design . System. 2018;74:62-72. doi:10.1016/j.system.2018.02.009

Gnepp J, Klayman J, Williamson IO, Barlas S. The future of feedback: Motivating performance improvement through future-focused feedback .  PLoS One . 2020;15(6):e0234444. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0234444

Hawthorne effect . The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation. doi:10.4135/9781506326139.n300

Murdoch M, Simon AB, Polusny MA, et al. Impact of different privacy conditions and incentives on survey response rate, participant representativeness, and disclosure of sensitive information: a randomized controlled trial .  BMC Med Res Methodol . 2014;14:90. doi:10.1186/1471-2288-14-90

Landy FJ , Conte JM. Work in the 21st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology . New York: John Wiley and Sons; 2010.

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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The Human Relations Movement:

Harvard business school and the hawthorne experiments (1924-1933).

In the 1920s Elton Mayo, a professor of Industrial Management at Harvard Business School, and his protégé Fritz J. Roethlisberger led a landmark study of worker behavior at Western Electric, the manufacturing arm of AT&T. Unprecedented in scale and scope, the nine-year study took place at the massive Hawthorne Works plant outside of Chicago and generated a mountain of documents, from hourly performance charts to interviews with thousands of employees. Harvard Business School’s role in the experiments represented a milestone in the dawn of the human relations movement and a shift in the study of management from a scientific to a multi-disciplinary approach. Baker Library’s exhaustive archival record of the experiments reveals the art and science of this seminal behavioral study—and the questions and theories it generated about the relationship of productivity to the needs and motivations of the industrial worker.

• The Hawthorne Plant
• Employee Welfare
• Illumination Studies and Relay Assembly Test Room
• Enter Elton Mayo
• Human Relations and Harvard Business School
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• The "Hawthorne Effect"
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Hawthorne Effect (Observer Effect): Definition & History

Design of Experiments > The Hawthorne Effect

Contents (click to skip to that section):

• Hawthorne Effect Definition.
• History of the Hawthorne Effect.

Is the Hawthorne Effect Real?

• Placebos, Pygmalion, and Other Self Fulfilling Prophecies.

Hawthorne Effect Definition

The Hawthorne Effect, also called the Observer Effect, is where people in studies change their behavior because they are watched . A series of studies in the 1920s first shone light on the phenomenon after researchers investigated how several conditions (i.e. lighting and breaks) affected worker’s output. Output went up up during the studies; It returned to normal after the research team left. This led to a whole era of research that attempted to control for the effect an observer can have on an experiment.

Some people say the “Hawthorne Effect” wasn’t real and output didn’t rise to any real level. There haven’t been any experiments since then that have duplicated the findings. However, the term “Hawthorne Effect” persists–even in textbooks. It is now used to describe any situation where there is a short-term increase in output. Back to Top

History of the Hawthorne Effect

The Hawthorne effect is named after a series of experiments that took place at the Western Electric factory in Hawthorne , a suburb of Chicago. The Western Electric Company was the sole supplier of telephone equipment to AT&T at the time and the Hawthorne plant was a state-of-the art plant that employed about 35,000 people. The experiments were intended to study the effects lighting levels had on output. The hypothesis evolved and groups of workers were studied to see if different lighting levels, levels of cleanliness or different placement of workstations affected output.

The major finding was that no matter what change the workers were exposed to, output improved. But, production went back to normal at the end of the study. This suggested watched employees worked harder.

Who Came Up With The Term?

Although the experiments took place in 1924-1932, the term Hawthorne Effect wasn’t used until much later. There is debate about who actually came up with the term. Some people think it was first used in the 1950s by Henry A. Landsberger during his analysis of the Western Electric experiments. See here and here . Others think that it was possibly coined by John French in 1953. See here and here .* Back to Top

Details About The Experiments

List of Changes

These experiments were conducted on entire departments (from Roethlisberger & Dickson):

• 1a: experimental groups from three departments showed output increases. These continued even when lighting levels were decreased.
• 1b: one experimental group worked with increasing lighting levels. One control group worked with constant lighting levels. Both groups’ output showed a small, but significant, increase.
• 1c: Similar to 1b, except the experimental group worked under decreasing lighting levels. Output increased for both groups until the lighting levels in the experimental group went too low (1.4 foot candles) to see properly.
• 1d: only involved two women. The researcher told the women that bright lighting was better and pretended to replace bulbs with better ones. The women stated they preferred the “better” light. The women’s belief about “good” lighting levels affected them more than what the actual lighting levels were.

According to Blalock and Blalock (1982, p. 72), to the surprise of the researchers:

“…each time a change was made, worker productivity increased…..As a final check, the experimenters returned to the original unfavorable conditions of poor lighting….Seemingly perversely, productivity continued to rise.”

End of The First Experiment

The National Academy called off the experiment as it proved nothing. However, Western Electric decided to undertake further studies. Harvard University then became connected with the new studies. Sociologist Elton Mayo supervised most of them.

Experiment, Part 2

In a second part of the experiment, five experienced workers were studied over a five year period. Two of the workers were replaced during the study due to them being too slow. This affected group morale, as when overall output dropped, pay dropped as well. This part of the experiment is usually referred to as The Mica Splitting Test . The workers split, measured and trimmed mica chips for insulation. The women (unlike their coworkers) received extra ten-minute breaks mid-morning and mid-afternoon. While they received the breaks, their output showed a small increase. Once the women returned to normal scheduling without breaks, output dropped back down. One positive outcome to the experiment was that the breaks (which increased output) became a company wide policy due to the experiment.

In another Hawthorn study, 14 telephone assemblers took part. After they were moved to a test room to work, there was no increase in output (i.e. there was no Hawthorne effect). However, the researchers did note that the people in the study kept up with group expectations of what they thought was good output for the day. Team members were labeled “speed kings” or “slaves.” If output was too high in the morning they tended to slow down to meet expectations.

The Great Depression

The experiments continued until 1932, when the workers in the experiment were laid off during the Great Depression. a report was actually never published, despite the notoriety of the Lighting experiment. The data from the experiment was considered “lost” until recently. Steven Levitt and John List from the National Bureau of Economic Research found the data in two library archives.

An interesting (bit probably irrelevant) note : Theresa Zajac was one of the original experiment participants. She still worked at the same plant when Western Electric held their 50th anniversary celebration. Back to Top

Henry McIlvaine “Mac” Parsons was one of the first people to uncover some real problems with the Hawthorne experiment’s results. In 1970 he studied second-hand and first-hand accounts of the research, finding some serious problems. These included factors that were completely ignored:

• The test room was much smaller and quieter than the main floor. The room also had better air flow and lighting.
• Supervisors were friendly and tolerant when the researchers were around. This may have affected performance.
• The testing room had a friendlier atmosphere than the main floor. Workers talked between themselves more.
• Two women were replaced mid-way through the experiment for being too slow. One of the replacements was so enthusiastic, she became the group leader.

Perhaps the two most important factors that weren’t accounted for were also ignored by the researchers. When the workers were on the main floor, they earned a base rate plus a bonus; The whole department’s performance determined the bonus. Five workers output in the test room determined how much extra those workers received, so one person’s output could have a major effect on the team’s paycheck. This meant that team members would be more motivated to ramp-up output. This motivational effect is well-known in behavioral science today, but back in the 1920s/1930s it had not been developed yet.

The Myth Continues

Parsons made his findings well-known, but many authors of current textbooks continue to include the Hawthorne Effect without question . When asked why he thought people persisted in spreading the myth despite his well-publicized findings, Parson’s replied, “They’re lazy.”

In a NY Times article from 1998, psychology professor Dr. Richard Nisbette from the University of Michigan called the Hawthorne effect “a glorified anecdote,” partly due to the tiny sample of workers studied. The New York Times article itself was titled “Scientific Myths That Are Too Good to Die.”

A Closer Look

A closer look by a group of University of Chicago researchers suggests that there may never have been a “Hawthorne Effect” in the first place. After analyzing the original data, Levitt and List came to the following conclusion:

” Our analysis of the newly found data reveals little evidence to support the existence of a Hawthorne effect as commonly described; i.e., there is no systematic evidence that productivity jumped whenever changes in lighting occurred.”

The output seen in the original study could have been due to factors other than observation . Recent analysis of the tests highlight the simple fact that the Great Depression loomed. That alone may have had an effect on workers. The general opinion seems to be that if the Hawthorne effect exists, it exists in ways that aren’t really understood. This may have a huge impact on future studies.

The research that came out of the study influenced a generation of researchers. The field of Industrial and Organizational Psychology grew out of the Hawthorne studies.

“In the history of science, certain contributions stand out as signal events in the sense that they influence a great deal of what follows. The Hawthorne Experiments exemplify this phenomenon in the field of industrial work and have been the subject of serious subsequent commentary and reanalysis.” (Bloombaum, 1983)

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Self Fulfilling Prophecies

The Hawthorne Effect remains as a way to describe the increase in output seen in similar studies. These changes are sometimes called Self-Fulfilling Prophecies . When a researcher sets up an experiment, they are hoping that their hypothesis is correct. Otherwise, the experiment would fail. These hoped-for changes mean it is more likely a researcher will accept, rather than reject, their hypothesis statement.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

In the placebo effect , any medical intervention results in a positive outcome. That’s even if a patient receives a sugar pill instead of a “real” pill. Modern research is showing links between changes in brain chemistry and placebos. The placebo effect is even seen in patients told that they are taking placebos. The placebo effect has even been shown to lower cholesterol, as this study shows.

The Pygmalion effect is where higher expectations lead to better results. With this self-fulfilling prophecy, people internalize positive labels. Those people with positive labels succeed. The opposite of the Pygmalion effect is the Golem effect. People internalize negative labels and fail. Studies in controlled settings have been hard to come by.

2. If you have 30 minutes, I highly recommend this BBC Radio program . It dissects the Hawthorne Effect and explores the history. It also features several experts in the field such as:

• The Hawthorne Museum in Cicero.
• The Baker Library archive.
• Professor Michel Anteby at Harvard Business School.
• Professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of Yale Business School. He met the original participants in the study back in the 1970s.
• Mecca Chiesa of the University of Kent.

References:

Blalock, A. & Blalock Jr., H.M. (1982). Intro to social research. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Prentice-Hall. Bloombaum, M. (1983). The Hawthorne experiments. A critique and reanalysis. Sociological Perspectives. January, 26(1), 71-88. Landsberger, Henry A. Hawthorne Revisited, Ithaca, 1958. Levvit, S & List, J. Was There Really a Hawthorne Effect?. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3 (1): 224–238. Retrieved 12-20-2015 from http://www.nber.org/papers/w15016.pdf. Mayo, Elton. Hawthorne and the Western Electric Company. Routledge, 1949. McCarney R, Warner J, Iliffe S, van Haselen R, Griffin M, Fisher P; Warner; Iliffe; Van Haselen; Griffin; Fisher (2007). “The Hawthorne Effect”. BMC Med Res Methodol 7: 30. Rice, Berkeley. The Hawthorne Effect: Persistance of a Flawed Theory. Retrieved 12/20/2015 from https://www.cs.unc.edu/~stotts/204/nohawth.html. Roethlisberger,F.J. & Dickson,W.J. (1939) Management and the Worker. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Module 6: Motivation in the Workplace

The hawthorne effect, learning outcome.

• Explain the role of the Hawthorne effect in management

During the 1920s, a series of studies that marked a change in the direction of motivational and managerial theory was conducted by Elton Mayo on workers at the Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company in Illinois. Previous studies, in particular Frederick Taylor’s work, took a “man as machine” view and focused on ways of improving individual performance. Hawthorne, however, set the individual in a social context, arguing that employees’ performance is influenced by work surroundings and coworkers as much as by employee ability and skill. The Hawthorne studies are credited with focusing managerial strategy on the socio-psychological aspects of human behavior in organizations.

The following video from the AT&T archives contains interviews with individuals who participated in these studies. It provides insight into the way the studies were conducted and how they changed employers’ views on worker motivation.

The studies originally looked into the effects of physical conditions on productivity and whether workers were more responsive and worked more efficiently under certain environmental conditions, such as improved lighting. The results were surprising: Mayo found that workers were more responsive to social factors—such as their manager and coworkers—than the factors (lighting, etc.) the researchers set out to investigate. In fact, worker productivity improved when the lights were dimmed again and when everything had been returned to the way it was before the experiment began, productivity at the factory was at its highest level and absenteeism had plummeted.

What happened was Mayo discovered that workers were highly responsive to additional attention from their managers and the feeling that their managers actually cared about and were interested in their work. The studies also found that although financial incentives are important drivers of worker productivity, social factors are equally important.

Practice Question

There were a number of other experiments conducted in the Hawthorne studies, including one in which two women were chosen as test subjects and were then asked to choose four other workers to join the test group. Together, the women worked assembling telephone relays in a separate room over the course of five years (1927–1932). Their output was measured during this time—at first, in secret. It started two weeks before moving the women to an experiment room and continued throughout the study. In the experiment room, they were assigned to a supervisor who discussed changes with them and, at times, used the women’s suggestions. The researchers then spent five years measuring how different variables affected both the group’s and the individuals’ productivity. Some of the variables included giving two five-minute breaks (after a discussion with the group on the best length of time), and then changing to two ten-minute breaks (not the preference of the group).

Changing a variable usually increased productivity, even if the variable was just a change back to the original condition. Researchers concluded that the employees worked harder because they thought they were being monitored individually. Researchers hypothesized that choosing one’s own coworkers, working as a group, being treated as special (as evidenced by working in a separate room), and having a sympathetic supervisor were the real reasons for the productivity increase.

The Hawthorne studies showed that people’s work performance is dependent on social issues and job satisfaction. The studies concluded that tangible motivators such as monetary incentives and good working conditions are generally less important in improving employee productivity than intangible motivators such as meeting individuals’ desire to belong to a group and be included in decision making and work.

• Boundless Management. Provided by : Boundless. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-management/ . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Revision and adaptation. Authored by : Linda Williams and Lumen Learning. Provided by : Tidewater Community College. Located at : https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-introductiontobusiness/chapter/introduction-to-the-hawthorne-effect/ . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• AT&T Archives: The Year They Discovered People. Provided by : AT&T Tech Channel. Located at : https://youtu.be/D3pDWt7GntI . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License
• Hawthorne Works. Provided by : Western Electric Company. Located at : https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hawthorne_Works_aerial_view_ca_1920_pg_2.jpg . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright

Hawthorne Effect

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• Renee L. Allen 3 &
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A widely accepted definition of the Hawthorne Effect refers to the effects of subjects’ awareness of their evaluation as participants of a research study [ 4 ]. Other definitions include the importance of changes in the work environment (e.g., lighting, rest breaks) while some focus on the resilience of the change in performance. Common variables that can be found in the Hawthorne effect definitions include participants’ interpretation of workplace changes being implemented for their benefit, reference to the response of subjects to change, and the presence of reduced worker boredom [ 2 ]. Researchers who support the phenomenon that is known as the Hawthorne Effect have been criticized for failing to differentiate this concept from subject reactivity to experimental conditions or from the issue of confounding variables in experimental research. Indeed, the original research itself has been deemed methodologically flawed and insufficient to suggest such an effect by some [ 5 ].

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Brannigan, A., & Zwerman, W. (2001). The real “Hawthorne Effect”. Society, 38 , 55–60.

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Chiesa, M., & Hobbs, S. (2008). Making sense of social research: How useful is the Hawthorne Effect? European Journal of Social Psychology, 38 , 67–74.

Mayo, E. (1933). The human problems of an industrial civilization . New York: MacMillan.

Merrett, F. (2006). Reflections on the Hawthorne effect. Educational Psychology, 26 , 143–146.

Olson, R., Verley, J., Santos, L., & Salas, C. (2004). What we teach students about the Hawthorne studies: A review of content within a sample of introductory I-O and OB textbooks. The Industrial-Organizational Psychologist, 41 , 23–39.

Roethlisberger, F. J., & Dickson, W. J. (1939). Management and the worker . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Further Readings

Gillespie, R. (1991). Manufacturing knowledge: A history of the Hawthorne experiments . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Holden, J. D. (2001). Hawthorne effects and research into professional practice. Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice, 7 , 65–70.

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Renee L. Allen

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Allen, R.L., Davis, A.S. (2011). Hawthorne Effect. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_1324

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