Agency theory and social interactions at work

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to show that even when integrating the findings of behavioral economics, agency theory’s conception of interactions at work does not actually account for cooperative behavior. The paper draws on the distinction between the concepts of individual and person to critically examine this conception and show that, while work is mostly organized on the assumption that workers are self-interested individuals, management rhetoric addresses workers as persons in an attempt to prompt their cooperation and personal commitment. This managerial paradox may partly be due to the prevalent influence of agency theory’s prescriptions and has been contributing to a severe deterioration of the quality of working life. But it also indicates that agency theory has to confront serious theoretical and prescriptive dilemmas.