The Effects of Managerial Discretion in Multi-Task Environments: Experimental Evidence

Arnold, Markus C.; Bauch, Kai A. (2 June 2020). The Effects of Managerial Discretion in Multi-Task Environments: Experimental Evidence (Unpublished) 10.2139/ssrn.3612084

Text __avdfilesvr.campus.unibe.ch_ub_users_scherrer_Windows_DesktopCitrix_delivery.pdf - Submitted Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (583kB)

This study uses an experiment to investigate managerial discretion in multi-task environments. Prior work provides evidence that managerial discretion often affects performance less positively or even negatively in these environments. We identify and analyze three potential drivers for these effects. First, for fairness reasons, employees may not prefer bonus allocations based on efficient effort only. Second, the mere presence of a manager (as opposed to an automatic bonus allocation) may lead employees to be concerned about how bonuses will be allocated. This consumes cognitive resources and may distort effort provision. Finally, managers could deliberately deviate from rewarding efficient effort because their assessment of employees’ fairness preferences for rewarding inefficient effort is biased. In line with our predictions, we find evidence in favor of the second and third driver but not the first. Our results contribute by enhancing our understanding of the effects of managerial discretion in multi-task environments.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

3 since deposited on 22 Apr 2021
0 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item