Signatures and de-objectification: How asking individual producers to sign their work increases work performance and work satisfaction

Marketers have discovered the value of revealing the individual producers behind their products. While extant research has investigated how merely communicating the person behind a product affects consumers , the present research takes a different perspective by investigating whether and how this intervention affects individual producers and the outcome of their labor. Four studies demonstrate that having individual producers sign their creations increases their work performance and work satisfaction. This increase in work-related outcomes is largely driven by feelings of de-objectification—feeling acknowledged as an individual human being rather than a “cog” in the machine. We show that for the effect to emerge, it is essential that the individual producers’ signature is visible to consumers. Our work broadens the scope of marketing research by demonstrating that a promotional activity intended to appeal to consumers may also unfold unintended effects within the organization itself—on work performance and work satisfaction. These effects, in turn, imply incremental benefits for consumers in the form of qualitatively better products. Our research suggests that having individual producers sign their products can create a win–win–win situation for customers, producers, and organizations.