Performance Transparency and Measure Manipulation

My main objective in this project is to examine the relation between public reporting of performance information and measure manipulation. My first question is whether public reporting is sufficient to trigger measure manipulation and if so what is the underlying motivation or driving force behind this behavior. Hence, I focus on settings in which there is no incentive (whether monetary or non-monetary rewards) to engage in measure manipulation except for the incentive triggered by the presence of public reporting. My second question is whether the effect of public reporting on measure manipulation varies depending on the type of social structure (an egalitarian structure versus a hierarchical structure). Finally, my third question is, in a hierarchical structure, whether high-status and low-status individuals react differently to public reporting of their performance information.

Keywords:Misreporting behavior

Disciplines:Accounting and auditing