Information disclosure in mitigating moral hazard: An experimental investigation
实验研究了委托人选择立即披露、延迟披露或不披露任务难度对代理人努力的影响,发现延迟披露优于其他方式,但若委托人主动选择延迟披露,其优势因代理人互惠动机而消失。
In a moral hazard framework, an agent considers undertaking a task of uncertain difficulty. An immediate disclosure of the task's difficulty by the principal convinces the agent to perform only easy tasks. By contrast, information design theory predicts that delayed disclosure can induce the agent to continue working even when the work turns out to be challenging. Our experimental evidence confirms that delayed disclosure outperforms immediate disclosure and no disclosure, as theory predicts, but only if immediate disclosure is not available. However, when the principal is faced with the choice between the two policies and chooses delayed disclosure over immediate disclosure, the superiority of delayed disclosure disappears due to the agent's intention-based reciprocity towards the principal.