UTSA marketing researcher studies peer influence in the workplace

MARCH 31, 2025 — Can organizational communications impact the efforts of employees? According to a study by Stephen He, assistant professor of marketing in the Carlos Alvarez College of Business at UTSA, sharing peer success can influence employee performance.

“Our work found a link between peer success messaging and productivity,” said He. “Recognizing employees for their accomplishments through electronic communications systems resulted in improved outcomes for all employees. A mere 10% increase in the intensity of praise-filled messages about coworkers motivated employees to boost their effort by 5%.”

He and his colleagues used observational data from an information technology service company’s messaging system to measure the effect of success messages within that organization. His paper on that subject, “Peer Influence in the Workplace: Evidence from an Enterprise Digital Platform,” was recently published in MIS Quarterly.

“Employers can use this research to better inform their communications strategies when it comes to sharing peer success.”

Two types of messages were identified: ability-focused and effort-focused messaging. Ability-focused messages praised team members for the skills or traits that they possessed whereas effort-focused messages highlighted employees based on the work that they put into their job. He’s research showed that not all praise is equally effective.

“Both ability-focused success messages and effort-focused success messages motivated workers to work harder,” said He, who joined UTSA in 2023. “But with ability-focused messages, we noticed different reactions based on how close or connected the employees felt with the praised coworker. Ability-focused messages were more effective for socially close peers but had little impact for colleagues that were socially distant.”

He theorizes that these messages allow coworkers to view success as something attainable. However, the differences likely arise due to people considering effort to be controllable (e.g., working harder) and ability to be uncontrollable (e.g. possessing unique skills).

“Individuals relate more to people that they know, and they tend to perceive they have similar traits and abilities with these individuals,” said He. “This connection makes the ability-focused messages more successful among individuals with personal connections.”

Looking to replicate their observations, He also conducted an experiment recreating these scenarios with different subjects. The results confirmed his initial predictions.

“The benefit of having a highly productive worker could be greater than their individual contribution because their success motivates other workers to increase their effort as well,” said He. “Employers can use this research to better inform their communications strategies when it comes to sharing peer success.”

He plans on continuing this stream of research by examining emerging technologies and delving deeper into other digital phenomena.

“As more employees work remotely, employers need to understand how to leverage these digital communications platforms to motivate employees and improve productivity,” said He.

— Wendy Frost