Contextual Determinants of Reward Systems' Success: An Exploratory Study

Data were collected on successful and unsuccessful reward initiatives. The initiatives included new and modified base pay, short‐ and long‐term incentive, benefits, and perquisite/lifestyle rewards. Initiative success was measured on seven factors, and ten conditions were measured for initiative success. Follow‐up telephone calls to most respondents provided more detail for examples. Analysis suggests that a common set of criteria can be used to judge the success of different kinds of programs. Surprisingly, success in plan design was not a significant explanatory variable in reaching success on any criterion of rewards initiative success.