Managers’ usage of management control instruments and employees’ engagement in skill development.
We use an experiment to investigate how managers’ use of management control instruments can affect employees’ willingness to invest in skill development. Specifically, we examine how performance goals set by managers and the presence and timing (intra-period vs. beginning-of- period) of managers’ training recommendations interact to influence employees’ willingness to take training. We predict and find that performance goals negatively affect employees’ willingness to take training that boosts future productivity as these goals focus both managers and employees narrowly on current as opposed to future performance. We also predict and find that intra-period training recommendations increase employees’ willingness to take training, but only when performance goals are absent. Finally, we find that compared to intra-period recommendations, beginning-of-period recommendations make managers better balance the resources needed to achieve current performance vs. develop skills to boost future productivity, which increases employees’ willingness to take training when performance goals are present. Our study contributes to the emerging literature on how management controls affect employee skill development.
Ivo Tafkov
Professor Tafkov’s research investigates the effect of economic and behavioral factors on managerial decision-making.
https://robinson.gsu.edu/profile/ivo-d-tafkov/
REGISTRATION CLOSED