Information feedback in relative grading: Evidence from a field experiment

Abstract

Previous studies have revealed the role of relative performance information feedback on providing agent incentives under a relative rewarding scheme through laboratory experiments. This study examines the impact of relative performance information feedback of students’ performance on their examination score under the relative grading scheme in an actual educational environment. Conducting a randomized controlled trial in a compulsory subject at a Japanese university, we show that the relative performance information feedback has a significantly positive impact on the students’ examination score on average, but that the average positive impact is derived by the improvement of low-performing students.