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Job Assignments under Moral Hazard: The Peter Principle Revisited

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  • Alexander K. Koch
  • Julia Nafziger

Abstract

We show that inefficient job assignments arise in organizations even if there is full information about employees’ types and complete contracts are possible. Our model also provides a new perspective on the Peter Principle: the output of an employee who is promoted into a job for which he is not well suited need not decline postpromotion, because he is pushed to exert more effort. Although promotions are desirable for most employees, they make the least able in a hierarchy level worse off: for them earnings increase only because they work harder to compensate for their “incompetence.”

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  • Alexander K. Koch & Julia Nafziger, 2012. "Job Assignments under Moral Hazard: The Peter Principle Revisited," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 1029-1059, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jemstr:v:21:y:2012:i:4:p:1029-1059
    DOI: j.1530-9134.2012.00347.x
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    2. David Dickinson & Marie Claire Villeval, 2007. "The Peter Principle: An Experiment," Post-Print halshs-00175426, HAL.
    3. Anja Schöttner & Veikko Thiele, 2010. "Promotion Tournaments and Individual Performance Pay," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 699-731, September.
    4. Brilon, Stefanie, 2015. "Job assignment with multivariate skills and the Peter Principle," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 112-121.
    5. Cirillo, Valeria & Rinaldini, Matteo & Staccioli, Jacopo & Virgillito, Maria Enrica, 2018. "Workers’ awareness context in Italian 4.0 factories," GLO Discussion Paper Series 240, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Michael Mueller, 2016. "Does Sporting Activity Foster Career Advancement?," Eastern European Business and Economics Journal, Eastern European Business and Economics Studies Centre, vol. 2(4), pages 285-298.
    7. Valeria Cirillo & Matteo Rinaldini & Jacopo Staccioli & Maria Enrica Virgillito, 2018. "Workers' intervention authority in Italian 4.0 factories: autonomy and discretion," LEM Papers Series 2018/13, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    8. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5mqflt6amg8gab4rlqn6sbko4b is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Pawel Sobkowicz, 2010. "Dilbert-Peter Model of Organization Effectiveness: Computer Simulations," Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 13(4), pages 1-4.
    10. João Ricardo Faria & Franklin G. Mixon, 2020. "The Peter and Dilbert Principles applied to academe," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 115-132, June.
    11. Nafziger, Julia, 2008. "Job Assignments, Intrinsic Motivation and Explicit Incentives," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers 5/2008, University of Bonn, Bonn Graduate School of Economics (BGSE).
    12. Matthias Fahn & Nicolas Klein, 2023. "Non-Common Priors, Incentives, and Promotions: The Role of Learning," CESifo Working Paper Series 10481, CESifo.
    13. Müller, Michael, 2016. "Fördert sportliche Aktivität den beruflichen Aufstieg?," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 02/2016, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
    14. Brahmana, Rayenda Khresna & Setiawan, Doddy & Hooy, Chee Wooi, 2014. "Diversification strategy, Ownership Structure, and Firm Value: a study of public‐listed firms in Indonesia," MPRA Paper 64607, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J33 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Compensation Packages; Payment Methods
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation

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