Max Weber's Authority Models and the Theory of X‐Inefficiency: The Economic Sociologist's Analysis Adds More Structure to Leibenstein's Critique of Rationality

Stanley Vanagunas

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 1989, vol. 48, issue 4, 393-400

Abstract: Abstract. Harvey leibenstein's theory of X‐efficiency holds that behavioral considerations, such as motivation of workers or the quality of managerial decisions, are the major restraints on the productivity of modern organizations. It envisions economic behaviors which are not fully rational; that is, behaviors which fall far short of the maximization postulate so central to neo‐classical microeconomics. The theory is significant for it, contrary to the prevailing view, seeks to explain suboptimality primarily as a function of factors internal to the Jirm rather than those that are objectively external, such as the market structure in which the firm finds itself. The X‐efficiency framework is enhanced by the application of several salient concepts in the economic thought of Max Weber. He, in contrast to most of his contemporaries, engaged in economic analysis, but he never accepted the maximization postulate. He considered such formal economic rationality to be a very rare, almost an exceptional case of economic behavior the norm was something substantially less rational. Weber therefore categorized economic activity by its degree of rationality and linked such activity to types of authority exercised in its pursuit.

Date: 1989
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