Communication, Incentives, and the Execution of a Strategic Initiative
研究了高层领导如何通过激励和沟通两种手段影响下属执行新战略举措，发现沟通仅在举措价值高度不确定时有效，且有时模糊沟通更有利。
Senior leadership has two primary levers to influence a direct report: incentives and communication. Financial incentives are credible and precisely specified but offer limited flexibility. In contrast, communication is flexible but lacks precision, and must be deemed credible to affect a direct report’s actions. We study a setting where senior leadership seeks to add a new initiative to their organization’s portfolio. The initiative’s potential to create value is not initially well understood. Senior leadership eventually obtains more precise information on the initiative’s value and subsequently may communicate this information to their direct report. We analyze senior leadership’s incentive and communication decisions, and ultimately their portfolio decision. We find that senior leadership’s communication only affects a direct report’s actions when a new initiative’s potential to create value is sufficiently uncertain. Additionally, we find instances where an organization may benefit from communication that offers lessspecificity. This paper was accepted by David Hsu, entrepreneurship and innovation.