Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/20456 
Year of Publication: 
2004
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 1203
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We show experimentally that a principal?s distrust in the voluntary performance of an agent has a negative impact on the agent?s motivation to perform well. Before the agent chooses his performance, the principal in our experiment decides whether he wants to restrict the agents? choice set by implementing a minimum performance level for the agent. Since both parties have conflicting interests, restriction is optimal for the principal whenever the latter expects the agent to behave opportunistically. We find that most principals in our experiment do not restrict the agent?s choice set but trust that the agent will perform well voluntarily. Principals who trust induce, on average, a higher performance and hence earn higher payoffs than principals who control. The reason is that most agents lower their performance as a response to the signal of distrust created by the principal?s decision to limit their choice set. Our results shed new light on dysfunctional effects of explicit incentives as well as the puzzling incompleteness of many economic contracts.
Subjects: 
trust
distrust
motivation
incentives
control
incomplete contracts
fairness
JEL: 
M5
C9
C7
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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