Nuremberg Research Seminar in Economics on 6 November 2024, LG 0.423
You are invited to join the weekly Nuremberg Research Seminar in Economics on 6 November 2024, from 13.15 to 14.45 pm. The seminar will be held in room LG 0.423. Lea Heursen (Humboldt University of Berlin) will be talking about „Reputational Concerns and Advice-Seeking at Work”.
More information can be found here:
This paper examines the impact of reputational concerns on seeking advice. While seeking advice can improve performance, it may affect how others perceive the seeker’s competence. In an online experiment with white-collar professionals (N=2,521), we test how individuals navigate this tradeoff and if others’ beliefs about competence change it. We manipulate visibility of the decision to seek advice and stereotypes about competence. Results show a sizable and inefficient decline in advice-seeking when visible to a manager. Higher-order beliefs about competence cannot mediate this inefficiency. We find no evidence that managers interpret advice-seeking negatively, documenting a misconception that may hinder knowledge flows in organizations and curb learning.