Do Good Intentions Pay Off? Employee Responses to Well-Intended Actions with Risky Outcomes
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Contributors
Abstract
How does a subordinate react to the superior’s well-intended action when it is not certain that it will produce the intended outcome? The risk associated with the outcome creates moral wiggle room and thus poses a threat to the gift exchange between the superior and the subordinate. In a laboratory experiment, we first find that subordinates continue to reciprocate if the outcome risk is high. Second, however, subordinates’ response to a well-intended action that increases outcome risk depends on their inequality aversion. Weakly inequality-averse subordinates repay a kind action with a kind reaction if it decreases, but not if it increases, their outcome risk, whereas strongly inequality-averse subordinates react alike in both cases. Hence, a well-intended action is less worthwhile for subordinates if it increases than if it decreases outcome risk.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 313 - 334 |
Number of pages | 22 |
Journal | European Accounting Review |
Volume | 33 |
Issue number | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 21 Jun 2022 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
Externally published | Yes |
External IDs
Scopus | 85132792925 |
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