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Managerial Attention and Worker Performance

Author

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  • Marina Halac
  • Andrea Prat

Abstract

We present a novel theory of the employment relationship. A manager can invest in attention technology to recognize good worker performance. The technology may break and is costly to replace. We show that as time passes without recognition, the worker's belief about the manager's technology worsens and his effort declines. The manager responds by investing, but this investment is insufficient to stop the decline in effort and eventually becomes decreasing. The relationship therefore continues deteriorating, and a return to high performance becomes increasingly unlikely. These deteriorating dynamics do not arise when recognition is of bad performance or independent of effort.

Suggested Citation

  • Marina Halac & Andrea Prat, 2016. "Managerial Attention and Worker Performance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(10), pages 3104-3132, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:106:y:2016:i:10:p:3104-32
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.20140772
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Andrej Angelovski & Daniela Cagno & Daniela Grieco & Werner Güth, 2019. "Trusting versus monitoring: an experiment of endogenous institutional choices," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 329-355, December.
    3. Oriana Bandiera & Andrea Prat & Stephen Hansen & Raffaella Sadun, 2020. "CEO Behavior and Firm Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(4), pages 1325-1369.
    4. Oriana Bandiera & Renata Lemos & Andrea Prat & Raffaella Sadun, 2018. "Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(5), pages 1605-1653.
    5. Mayer, Simon, 2022. "Financing breakthroughs under failure risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(3), pages 807-848.
    6. Francesc Dilmé & Daniel F Garrett, 2019. "Residual Deterrence," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(5), pages 1654-1686.
    7. Heski Bar-Isaac & Joyee Deb, 2021. "Reputation With Opportunities for Coasting," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 200-236.
    8. Tan, Teck Yong, 2023. "Optimal transparency of monitoring capability," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    9. Prat, Andrea & Dessein, Wouter, 2019. "Organizational Capital, Corporate Leadership, and Firm Dynamics," CEPR Discussion Papers 13513, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Scur, Daniela & Lemos, Renata, 2019. "The ties that bind: implicit contracts and management practices in family-run firms," CEPR Discussion Papers 13794, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Achim, Peter & Knoepfle, Jan, 2024. "Relational enforcement," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 19(2), May.
    12. Lars Hornuf & Sabrina Jeworrek, 2018. "How Community Managers Affect Online Idea Crowdsourcing Activities," CESifo Working Paper Series 7153, CESifo.
    13. Jin Li & Arijit Mukherjee & Luis Vasconcelos, 2023. "What Makes Agility Fragile? A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Rigidity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3578-3601, June.
    14. Hornuf, Lars & Jeworrek, Sabrina, 2018. "Crowdsourced innovation: How community managers affect crowd activities," IWH Discussion Papers 13/2018, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    15. Dilmé, Francesc, 2019. "Reputation building through costly adjustment," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 586-626.
    16. Barron, Daniel & Georgiadis, George & Swinkels, Jeroen M., 2020. "Optimal contracts with a risk-taking agent," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 15(2), May.
    17. Achyuta Adhvaryu & Namrata Kala & Anant Nyshadham, 2019. "Management and Shocks to Worker Productivity," NBER Working Papers 25865, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Barbos, Andrei, 2019. "Dynamic contracts with random monitoring," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1-16.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • M54 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Labor Management

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