Artikel
Transparency in Hierarchies
We use an agency model to address the benefits and costs of transparency in a hierarchical organization in which the principal employs a manager entrusted with contracting authority and several workers, all under conditions of moral hazard. We define the principal's transparency choices as a decision to allow workers to observe their coworkers’ performances (observability) and as an investment in monitoring worker performance (precision). We find that whereas precision alleviates agency conflicts as expected, observability can exacerbate agency conflicts, especially if the manager's interests are misaligned sufficiently with those of the principal. Our results suggest several testable hypotheses including predictions that opaque performance measurement practices are well suited for small organizational units at lower hierarchical ranks, and in settings where the sensitivity-precision of the available measures is low, workers’ performances are correlated positively, and managerial productivity is modest.
- Language
-
Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
-
Journal: Journal of Accounting Research ; ISSN: 1475-679X ; Volume: 62 ; Year: 2023 ; Issue: 1 ; Pages: 411-445 ; Hoboken, NJ: Wiley
- Classification
-
Management
- Subject
-
hierarchy
incentives
multiagent contracting
relative performance evaluation
performance measure precision
- Event
-
Geistige Schöpfung
- (who)
-
Hofmann, Christian
Indjejikian, Raffi J.
- Event
-
Veröffentlichung
- (who)
-
Wiley
- (where)
-
Hoboken, NJ
- (when)
-
2023
- DOI
-
doi:10.1111/1475-679X.12516
- Last update
-
10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET
Data provider
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Object type
- Artikel
Associated
- Hofmann, Christian
- Indjejikian, Raffi J.
- Wiley
Time of origin
- 2023
Other Objects (12)
Opening up the black box: Technological transparency and prevention
Transparency of local government financial statements: Analyzing citizens’ perceptions
Sourcing from conflict regions: Policies to improve transparency in international supply chains
Optimal promotions of competing firms in a frictional labour market with organizational hierarchies
On complexity and transparency: The limits of taxonomic ordering
Researcher effects in survey‐based research: Insights from research in South Sudan
New Petro‐aggression in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia in the Spotlight
Loss and change: Culture narratives in old industrial regions in East Germany
Participation in contract farming and farm performance: Insights from cashew farmers in Ghana
Disparate but not antagonistic: Classes of labour in cotton production in Burkina Faso
Strategic delegation in Nash bargaining
Gender and precarity in platform work: Old inequalities in the new world of work
Opening up the black box: Technological transparency and prevention
Transparency of local government financial statements: Analyzing citizens’ perceptions
Sourcing from conflict regions: Policies to improve transparency in international supply chains
Optimal promotions of competing firms in a frictional labour market with organizational hierarchies
On complexity and transparency: The limits of taxonomic ordering
Researcher effects in survey‐based research: Insights from research in South Sudan
New Petro‐aggression in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia in the Spotlight
Loss and change: Culture narratives in old industrial regions in East Germany
Participation in contract farming and farm performance: Insights from cashew farmers in Ghana
Disparate but not antagonistic: Classes of labour in cotton production in Burkina Faso
Strategic delegation in Nash bargaining
Gender and precarity in platform work: Old inequalities in the new world of work
Opening up the black box: Technological transparency and prevention
Transparency of local government financial statements: Analyzing citizens’ perceptions
Sourcing from conflict regions: Policies to improve transparency in international supply chains
Optimal promotions of competing firms in a frictional labour market with organizational hierarchies
On complexity and transparency: The limits of taxonomic ordering
Researcher effects in survey‐based research: Insights from research in South Sudan
New Petro‐aggression in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia in the Spotlight
Loss and change: Culture narratives in old industrial regions in East Germany
Participation in contract farming and farm performance: Insights from cashew farmers in Ghana
Disparate but not antagonistic: Classes of labour in cotton production in Burkina Faso
Strategic delegation in Nash bargaining