TY - JOUR
T1 - Reputation versus information
T2 - The delegation policy when the principal has reputational concerns
AU - Tamada, Yasunari
AU - Tsai, Tsung Sheng
N1 - Funding Information:
We sincerely thank the Associate Editor and two referees for their insightful comments and helpful suggestions. The second author also acknowledges the financial support provided by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (NSC 93-2415-H-001-033).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - We analyze the delegation policy when the principal has reputational concerns. Both the principal and the agent can be either good or biased; the good players prefer the correct decision, while the biased ones prefer a high action even though it may be wrong. An evaluator who forms the principal's reputation may or may not be able to observe who makes the decision. When the evaluator cannot observe the allocation of authority, the principal shares the credit and blame with the agent. Although delegation can improve the quality of decision making because the agent has better information, it may also hurt the good principal's reputation because the high action may be taken by the biased agent while the blame will be shared when it is wrong. Thus, the good principal has a tendency to keep too much authority to maintain her reputation. By contrast, when the evaluator can observe the allocation of authority, delegation becomes a signaling device for the good type of principal to differentiate herself from the biased one. This results in an excessive allocation of authority toward the agent.
AB - We analyze the delegation policy when the principal has reputational concerns. Both the principal and the agent can be either good or biased; the good players prefer the correct decision, while the biased ones prefer a high action even though it may be wrong. An evaluator who forms the principal's reputation may or may not be able to observe who makes the decision. When the evaluator cannot observe the allocation of authority, the principal shares the credit and blame with the agent. Although delegation can improve the quality of decision making because the agent has better information, it may also hurt the good principal's reputation because the high action may be taken by the biased agent while the blame will be shared when it is wrong. Thus, the good principal has a tendency to keep too much authority to maintain her reputation. By contrast, when the evaluator can observe the allocation of authority, delegation becomes a signaling device for the good type of principal to differentiate herself from the biased one. This results in an excessive allocation of authority toward the agent.
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U2 - 10.1111/jpet.12289
DO - 10.1111/jpet.12289
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85041907695
VL - 20
SP - 367
EP - 389
JO - Journal of Public Economic Theory
JF - Journal of Public Economic Theory
SN - 1467-9779
IS - 3
ER -