IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobhdp/v176y2023ics0749597823000262.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The downside of decision delegation: When transferring decision responsibility incurs interpersonal costs

Author

Listed:
  • Blunden, Hayley
  • Steffel, Mary

Abstract

When facing decisions, managers and employees often seek coworker support. They may ask for advice, retaining decision responsibility, or delegate, transferring decision responsibility. Prior work shows that people who seek decision support via delegation expect to avoid the burdens of decision responsibility, like regret and blame. But might these anticipated benefits sometimes come at an interpersonal cost? Drawing from fairness theory, we hypothesize and find that decision support providers often respond to delegators (versus advice seekers) with reduced willingness to help them with future decisions or hire them, perceiving those seeking to offload decision responsibility as less fair. This interpersonal penalization is attenuated when the potential for perceived unfairness is reduced: when decision responsibility transfer is perceived as less likely to make the support provider worse off (when the decision involves allocating desirable outcomes to others) or more legitimate (when the decision lies within the scope of the helper’s role).

Suggested Citation

  • Blunden, Hayley & Steffel, Mary, 2023. "The downside of decision delegation: When transferring decision responsibility incurs interpersonal costs," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:176:y:2023:i:c:s0749597823000262
    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2023.104251
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597823000262
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.obhdp.2023.104251?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. F. Gamze Bozkurt, 2012. "Moderating Effect of Trust in Managers on the Relation between Delegation of Authority and Managers’ Perceived Social Loafing," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 4(11), pages 583-595.
    2. Blakely, Gerald L., 1993. "The Effects of Performance Rating Discrepancies on Supervisors and Subordinates," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 57-80, February.
    3. Rob Cross & Lee Sproull, 2004. "More Than an Answer: Information Relationships for Actionable Knowledge," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(4), pages 446-462, August.
    4. Tom Y. Chang & David H. Solomon & Mark M. Westerfield, 2016. "Looking for Someone to Blame: Delegation, Cognitive Dissonance, and the Disposition Effect," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(1), pages 267-302, February.
    5. I. Jawahar, 2007. "The Influence of Perceptions of Fairness on Performance Appraisal Reactions," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 735-754, September.
    6. Rupp, Deborah E. & Shao, Ruodan & Jones, Kisha S. & Liao, Hui, 2014. "The utility of a multifoci approach to the study of organizational justice: A meta-analytic investigation into the consideration of normative rules, moral accountability, bandwidth-fidelity, and socia," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 159-185.
    7. Mary Steffel & Elanor F Williams & Vicki MorwitzEditor & Andrea MoralesAssociate Editor, 2018. "Delegating Decisions: Recruiting Others to Make Choices We Might Regret," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(5), pages 1015-1032.
    8. Marwan Sinaceur & Kleef Gerben A. Van & Margaret A. Neal & Hajo Adam & Christophe Haag, 2011. "Hot or cold : Is communicating anger or threats more effective in negotiation?," Post-Print hal-02312626, HAL.
    9. Mooijman, Marlon & van Dijk, Wilco W. & van Dijk, Eric & Ellemers, Naomi, 2019. "Leader power, power stability, and interpersonal trust," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 1-10.
    10. Samuelson, William & Zeckhauser, Richard, 1988. "Status Quo Bias in Decision Making," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 7-59, March.
    11. Daniel Kahneman & Jack L. Knetsch & Richard H. Thaler, 1991. "Anomalies: The Endowment Effect, Loss Aversion, and Status Quo Bias," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 193-206, Winter.
    12. Kimberly M. Sawers, 2005. "Evidence of Choice Avoidance in Capital†Investment Judgements," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(4), pages 1063-1092, December.
    13. Björn Bartling & Urs Fischbacher, 2012. "Shifting the Blame: On Delegation and Responsibility," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 79(1), pages 67-87.
    14. Alison Wood Brooks & Francesca Gino & Maurice E. Schweitzer, 2015. "Smart People Ask for (My) Advice: Seeking Advice Boosts Perceptions of Competence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(6), pages 1421-1435, June.
    15. Blunden, Hayley & Logg, Jennifer M. & Brooks, Alison Wood & John, Leslie K. & Gino, Francesca, 2019. "Seeker beware: The interpersonal costs of ignoring advice," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 83-100.
    16. Stefano Pagliaro & Marco Brambilla & Simona Sacchi & Manuela D’Angelo & Naomi Ellemers, 2013. "Initial Impressions Determine Behaviours: Morality Predicts the Willingness to Help Newcomers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(1), pages 37-44, September.
    17. Bonaccio, Silvia & Dalal, Reeshad S., 2006. "Advice taking and decision-making: An integrative literature review, and implications for the organizational sciences," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 127-151, November.
    18. Feenstra, Sanne & Jordan, Jennifer & Walter, Frank & Stoker, Janka I., 2020. "Antecedents of leaders' power sharing: The roles of power instability and distrust," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 115-128.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Effron, Daniel A. & Raj, Medha, 2021. "Disclosing interpersonal conflicts of interest: Revealing whom we like, but not whom we dislike," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 68-85.
    2. Haeussler, Carolin & Vieth, Sabrina, 2022. "A question worth a million: The expert, the crowd, or myself? An investigation of problem solving," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(3).
    3. Chiu, Shih-Chi (Sana) & Pathak, Seemantini & Sabz, Azadeh, 2022. "The impact of advisor status on corporate divestitures and market reactions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 107-121.
    4. Back, Camila & Morana, Stefan & Spann, Martin, 2023. "When do robo-advisors make us better investors? The impact of social design elements on investor behavior," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    5. Blunden, Hayley & Logg, Jennifer M. & Brooks, Alison Wood & John, Leslie K. & Gino, Francesca, 2019. "Seeker beware: The interpersonal costs of ignoring advice," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 83-100.
    6. Philippe Fevrier & Sebastien Gay, 2005. "Informed Consent Versus Presumed Consent The Role of the Family in Organ Donations," HEW 0509007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Jose Apesteguia & Miguel Ballester, 2009. "A theory of reference-dependent behavior," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 40(3), pages 427-455, September.
    8. Jidong Zhou, 2011. "Reference Dependence and Market Competition," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(4), pages 1073-1097, December.
    9. Lucas C. Coffman & Alexander Gotthard-Real, 2019. "Moral Perceptions of Advised Actions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3904-3927, August.
    10. Leković Milјan, 2020. "Cognitive Biases as an Integral Part of Behavioral Finance," Economic Themes, Sciendo, vol. 58(1), pages 75-96, March.
    11. Thomas Demuynck, 2014. "The computational complexity of rationalizing Pareto optimal choice behavior," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 42(3), pages 529-549, March.
    12. Matthey, Astrid, 2005. "Getting used to risks: Reference dependence and risk inclusion," SFB 649 Discussion Papers 2005-036, Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk.
    13. Taekyoung Lim, 2020. "Using of Nudge Approaches for Sustainable Energy," International Journal of Environmental Sciences & Natural Resources, Juniper Publishers Inc., vol. 25(4), pages 193-198, September.
    14. Ulrich Schmidt & Stefan Traub, 2009. "An Experimental Investigation of the Disparity Between WTA and WTP for Lotteries," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 66(3), pages 229-262, March.
    15. Domenico Colucci & Chiara Franco & Vincenzo Valori, 2021. "Endowment effects at different time scenarios: the role of ownership and possession," Discussion Papers 2021/279, Dipartimento di Economia e Management (DEM), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
    16. Bowman, David & Minehart, Deborah & Rabin, Matthew, 1999. "Loss aversion in a consumption-savings model," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 155-178, February.
    17. Stinshoff, Volker, 2020. "Selbst gemacht ist gut gemacht? Der Einfluss von Self-Service Reporting auf die Qualität von Managemententscheidungen," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 5(2), pages 223-245.
    18. Miklós Antal & Ardjan Gazheli & Jeroen C.J.M. van den Bergh, 2012. "Behavioural Foundations of Sustainability Transitions. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 3," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46424, March.
    19. Özalp Özer & Upender Subramanian & Yu Wang, 2018. "Information Sharing, Advice Provision, or Delegation: What Leads to Higher Trust and Trustworthiness?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 474-493, January.
    20. Amaral, Christopher & Kolsarici, Ceren, 2020. "The financial advice puzzle: The role of consumer heterogeneity in the advisor choice," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:176:y:2023:i:c:s0749597823000262. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/obhdp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.