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Contribution Details

Type Book Chapter
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Corporate governance as an institution to overcome social dilemmas
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Margit Osterloh
  • Bruno Frey
  • Hossam Zeitoun
Editors
  • Alexander Brink
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed No
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Booktitle Corporate Governance and Business Ethics
Series Name Studies in Economic Ethics and Philosophy
ISBN 978-94-007-1588-2
ISSN 1431-8822
Number 39
Place of Publication Dordrecht [etc.]
Publisher Springer
Page Range 49 - 73
Date 2011
Abstract Text During the current international financial crisis, the effectiveness of existing corporate governance institutions has been questioned both in the scientific community and in the media. A special focus of this discussion is on the containment of opportunistic behavior. In the corporate governance literature, the dominant approaches axiomatically assume individuals with self-interest or opportunistic behavior. The modern research stream of psychological economics, however, has shown that prosocial preferences exist and do matter. When the determinants of prosocial behavior are considered, the implications for the design of corporate governance institutions may clash with conventional wisdom. We suggest that the following measures help to overcome social dilemmas at the firm level: board representation of knowledge workers who invest in firm-specific human capital, attenuation of variable pay-for-performance, selection of directors and managers with prosocial preferences, and employee participation in decision-making and control. With our approach, we make a rare attempt to apply psychological economics to a complex institution, namely corporate governance.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1007/978-94-007-1588-2_3
Other Identification Number merlin-id:4941
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