Does appointing team leaders and shaping leadership styles increase effort? Evidence from a field experiment

Matthieu Chemin ()

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2021, vol. 186, issue C, 12-32

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a randomized experiment varying the method of selection of team leaders (appointment versus self-selection), the characteristics of the appointed leaders and their leadership styles. I find that appointing high-ability and hard-working leaders increases effort, knowledge-sharing and team performance. I find even greater effects for another intervention that attempted to shape leadership style by providing detailed instructions on how to coordinate the team based on previous observation of free-riders’ behavior in teams. This indicates that the coordinating abilities of leaders are particularly important in a context of a non-routine cognitive task where knowledge spillovers and the flow of creative ideas are required.

Keywords: Leaders; Leadership style; Effort in teams (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I20 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:186:y:2021:i:c:p:12-32

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.02.014

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