Wang, Pei2026-01-072026-01-072026-01-072025-12-05https://hdl.handle.net/10012/22801Despite firms investing billions of dollars in voluntary training, employees’ skills still fall behind what firms need. Therefore, managers must motivate employees to allocate more effort toward voluntary training. In a multi-task setting where effort allocated to both production and voluntary training can increase employee performance, I examine how two attributes of performance-based rewards – reward nature (hedonic vs. utilitarian) and reward contingency (goal-based vs. piece-rate) – affect employee total effort, voluntary training effort proportion, and performance. Using a lab experiment, I find that the effect of hedonic (vs. utilitarian) reward nature on employee total effort is more positive when the reward is goal-based than piece-rate; the effect of hedonic (vs. utilitarian) reward nature on employee voluntary training effort proportion is more negative when the reward is goal-based than piece-rate; and the effect of hedonic (vs. utilitarian) reward nature on employee performance is more positive when the reward is goal-based than piece-rate. These results inform managers of the need to consider reward nature and reward contingency together in reward design: adjusting the reward nature is likely more useful in balancing employees’ production effort and voluntary training effort for jobs where goal-based rewards are offered than for jobs where piece-rate rewards are offered. Utilitarian reward nature can motivate employees to allocate more time to training than hedonic reward nature when the reward is goal-based; however, reward nature matters less when the reward is piece-rate.enDoctoral Thesis