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http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/9529
Title: | Performance targets, effort and risk-taking |
Authors: | Rablen, MD |
Keywords: | Performance targets;Intrinsic motivation;Prospect theory;Principal–agent theory;Reference-dependent preferences |
Issue Date: | 2010 |
Citation: | Journal of Economic Psychology, 2010, 31 (4), pp. 687 - 697 |
Abstract: | Growing economic and psychological evidence documents effects of target setting on levels of effort and risk-taking, even in the absence of a monetary reward for attaining the target. I explore a principal–agent environment in which the principal sets the agent a performance target, and the agent’s intrinsic motivation to work is influenced by their performance relative to the target. When the agent has prospect theory preferences relative to the target I show that a performance target can induce greater effort, but, when set too high, it eventually induces lower effort. Also, the agent’s preferences for risk-taking hinge on whether the target is set above or below expected output. I find that the principal’s optimal target exceeds expected output. |
URI: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167487010000681 http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/9529 |
DOI: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2010.05.002 |
ISSN: | 0167-4870 |
Appears in Collections: | Dept of Economics and Finance Research Papers |
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