Several economists have directed our attention to a finding in the social psychological literature that extrinsic motivation may undermine intrinsic motivation. The self-perception (SP) theory developed by Bem (1972) explains this finding. The crux of this theory is that people remember their...

Boards of directors face the twin task of disciplining and screening executives. To perform these tasks directors do not have detailed information about executives' behaviour, and only infrequently have information about the success or failure of initiated strategies, reorganizations, mergers...

This article analyzes under which conditions a manager can motivate a junior worker by verbal communication, and explains why communication is often tied up with organizational choices as job enlargement and collaboration. Our model has two important features. First, the manager has more...

We develop a theory of leadership that focuses on the role managersplay in motivating employees through their attitude towards employees. We modela manager's attitude as her perception about employees' abilities of successfullycompleting challenging tasks. We show that a positive attitude...

An important role of managers is to motivate subordinates. Monetary rewards have been the focus of economic analysis. Managers also use other means to influence subordinates. If a manager can better assess the subordinate's ability than the subordinate himself, and if ability and effort are...

We develop a theory of leadership that focuses on the role managers play in motivating employees through their attitude towards employees. We model a manager's attitude as her perception about employees' abilities of successfully completing challenging tasks. We show that a positive attitude...