Arbeitspapier

Finding the cost of control

A large and growing literature has demonstrated that explicit incentives, such as enforceable contracts, can lead agents to withhold effort. We investigate when this behavioral result arises. In an extensive laboratory experiment, we find that imposing control through an enforceable contract is only detrimental to principals in a special case when: (1) there is a preexisting norm that agents provide high effort; (2) control is imposed unilaterally and has an asymmetric effect on the agent; (3) control is weak (i.e. it cannot induce significant effort); and (4) the agent does not use control when acting as a principal.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 4188

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Design of Experiments: General
Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs: General
Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior: General
Thema
experiment
principal-agent problem
hidden cost of control

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Kessler, Judd
Leider, Stephen G.
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
(wo)
Munich
(wann)
2013

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
10.03.2025, 11:44 MEZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Kessler, Judd
  • Leider, Stephen G.
  • Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)

Entstanden

  • 2013

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