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Directives, expressives, and motivation

Author

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  • Suzuki, Toru

    (Economics Discipline Group, University of Technology Sydney)

Abstract

When an agent's motivation is sensitive to how his supervisor thinks about the agent's competence, the supervisor has to take into account both informational and expressive contents of her message to the agent. This paper shows that the supervisor can credibly express her trust in the agent's ability only by being unclear about what to do. Suggesting what to do, i.e., "directives," could reveal the supervisor's "distrust" and reduce the agent's equilibrium effort level even though it provides useful information about the decision environment. There is also an equilibrium in which directives are neutral in expressive content. However, it is shown that neologism proofness favors equilibria in which directives are double-edged swords.

Suggested Citation

  • Suzuki, Toru, 2017. "Directives, expressives, and motivation," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 12(1), January.
    • Handle: RePEc:the:publsh:1843
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Suzuki, Toru, 2020. "Efficient communication and indexicality," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 156-165.
    2. Suzuki, Toru, 2019. "Choice set dependent performance and post-decision dissonance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 24-42.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Communication games; directives; expressives; economics and language;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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