Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons^™

How Does Peer Honesty Affect Focal Manager Honesty In A Budget Reporting Setting?, Michael Paz, Bernhard E. Reichert, Alex Woods

Michael Paz

We examine the effect of peer honesty on focal manager honesty in a budget reporting setting. We disclose peer honesty to the focal manager at three levels: no, partial, and full disclosure of the reporting behavior of the other managers in the focal managers’ cohort. In partial disclosure, only the reports of the least honest peers are disclosed to the focal manager. In full disclosure, all managers’ reports in the cohort are disclosed to the focal manager. We predict and find that disclosure of other managers’ reports leads to less honesty compared to the absence of disclosure. We show that …