Reputational Concerns and Advice-Seeking at Work

Lea Heursen, Svenja Friess and Marina Chugunova
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Lea Heursen: HU Berlin
Svenja Friess: Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition/LMU Munich
Marina Chugunova: Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

No 447, Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series from CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition

Abstract: We examine the impact of reputational concerns on seeking advice. While seeking can improve performance, it may affect how others perceive the seeker's competence. In an online experiment with white-collar professionals (N=2,521), we test how individuals navigate this tradeoff and if others' beliefs about competence change it. We manipulate visibility of the decision to seek and stereotypes about competence. Results show a sizable and inefficient decline in advice-seeking when visible to a manager. Higher-order beliefs about competence cannot mediate this inefficiency. We find no evidence that managers interpret advice-seeking negatively, documenting a misconception that may hinder knowledge flows in organizations.

Keywords: advice-seeking; reputational concerns; stereotypes; higher-order beliefs; knowledge flows; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D16 D21 D83 D91 M51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-11-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp and nep-hrm
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