Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/308337 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17478
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Teams are formed because input from different people is needed. Providing incentives to team members, however, can be diffcult. According to received wisdom, declaring all members responsible fails because real responsibility for team output 'diffuses'. But why? And why and when does formally declaring one member 'responsible' mean that this member can be attributed real responsibility? We offer a model that answers these questions. We identify when jointly declaring a team responsible results in reputation free-riding. We show that declaring one person responsible can overcome this problem but only if all other team members are protected from being sanctioned.
Subjects: 
reputation free riding
collective punishment
formal and real responsibility
JEL: 
M54
D23
D86
L23
K12
K13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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