Managing Autonomy in Industrial Research and Development: A Project-Level Investigation
研究了工业研发项目中自主权（即决策权下放）的驱动因素和效果，发现项目相关资本与自主权呈U型关系，表明效率和激励两种机制同时存在。
Management practices explain an important part of the heterogeneity in firm productivity, but the literature has largely focused on manufacturing, while leaving out research in the industrial setting. A key managerial practice in industrial research projects is the use of autonomy (through the delegation of decision rights). Our paper clarifies the drivers and the effects of autonomy in settings where other managerial instruments are less effective. We discuss that in industrial research projects, autonomy is set for efficiency reasons—autonomy allows researchers to make more competent decisions about a specific problem—as well as for motivational considerations—autonomy motivates researchers to exert greater effort. We also argue that project-relevant capital—the resources that enhance the productivity of researchers on a given project—is a key driver of autonomy. We theorize that the efficiency and motivational channels have opposite implications for the relationship between project-relevant capital and autonomy and find that, empirically, this relationship is U-shaped, which is suggestive evidence of the presence of both channels.