Black Sheep and Walls of Silence

Gerd Mühlheusser and Andreas Roider

Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems from Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich

Abstract: In this paper we analyze the frequently observed phenomenon that (i) some members of a team (“black sheep†) exhibit behavior disliked by other (honest) team members, who (ii) nevertheless refrain from reporting such misbehavior to the authorities (they set up a “wall of silence†). Much cited examples include hospitals and police departments. In this paper, these features arise in equilibrium. An important ingredient of our model are benefits that agents receive when cooperating with each other in a team. Our results suggest that teams in which the importance of these benefits varies across team members are especially prone to the above mentioned phenomenon.

Keywords: teams; misbehavior; wall of silence; asymmetric information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C73 D82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-spo
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Black Sheep and Walls of Silence (2005)
Working Paper: Black Sheep and Walls of Silence (2005)
Working Paper: Black Sheep and Walls of Silence (2004)
Working Paper: Black Sheep and Walls of Silence (2004)
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