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Towards a Social Theory of Agency
Author(s) -
Wiseman Robert M.,
CuevasRodríguez Gloria,
GomezMejia Luis R.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of management studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.398
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1467-6486
pISSN - 0022-2380
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6486.2011.01016.x
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , principal–agent problem , context (archaeology) , variety (cybernetics) , flexibility (engineering) , principal (computer security) , value (mathematics) , positive economics , epistemology , public relations , sociology , political science , economics , computer science , management , social science , computer security , artificial intelligence , paleontology , corporate governance , philosophy , machine learning , biology
We challenge critics of agency theory who suggest that agency theory's value does not extend outside a narrow context dominated by egocentric agents seeking only to maximize wealth at the expense of the principal. Instead, we argue that agency theory's flexibility allows for its application to a variety of non‐traditional settings where the key elements of agency theory, such as self‐interest, information asymmetry, and the mechanisms used to control agency costs can vary beyond the narrow assumptions implied in traditional agency‐based research. We suggest that extending agency theory to diverse settings using a deductive approach can be accomplished by formally recognizing and incorporating the institutional context surrounding principal–agent (P–A) relations into agency‐based models. Thus, criticisms that agency theory fails to acknowledge the social context in which P–A relations occur provides not a barrier but an opportunity for extending our understanding of P–A relations to a variety of diverse contexts.