Keywords
input reporting, employee performance, impression management
Abstract
We investigate how the reporting of input information to managers affects employee performance, and how the signaling value of inputs for impression management moderates this effect. We develop theory to predict that the information content of input information (incremental to output measures), and thus its potential for impression management, will depend separately on both the difficulty of the task and the sensitivity of performance to effort. Across three experiments, we predict and find the reporting of input information significantly increases employee effort and performance in difficult relative to easy tasks and in low relative to high effort sensitivity tasks. Our study contributes to the literature on input reporting as a management control system, highlighting contextual features managers should consider when navigating the tradeoffs between the costs and benefits of gathering information about employees’ effort inputs.
Original Publication Citation
“The effects of input reporting and effort sensitivity on performance” (with Bill Tayler, Tyler Thomas, and Todd Thornock), working paper. The Accounting Review.
BYU ScholarsArchive Citation
Smith, Steven D.; Tayler, William B.; Thomas, Tyler F.; and Thornock, Todd A., "The Signaling Value of Input Information: Performance Effects of Task Difficulty and Effort Sensitivity" (2025). Faculty Publications. 8562.
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/8562
Document Type
Peer-Reviewed Article
Publication Date
2025
Publisher
The Accounting Review
Language
English
College
Marriott School of Business
Department
Accountancy
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