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“Go easy on me!”: Supervisor discretion in target setting after managerial turnover
Verschaeve,Mathilde Cardinaels,Eddy Smeulders,Dieter den Abbeele,Alexandra Van
Verschaeve,Mathilde
Cardinaels,Eddy
Smeulders,Dieter
den Abbeele,Alexandra Van
Abstract
This paper examines supervisors' target setting decisions following managerial turnover, an event largely overlooked in prior studies. Specifically, we test whether regional supervisors use discretion to assign different target levels to new managers compared to those who remain in their business unit. Moreover, we investigate whether the use of past performance and peer performance information in supervisors' target revisions is sensitive to managerial turnover. Using field data from 113 nursing homes of a large elderly care provider over a three-year period, we provide evidence that supervisors assign relatively lower targets to new managers. Additionally, our results show that, overall, supervisors rely on past and peer performance information to a similar extent when revising targets for new managers, with a more lenient approach if new managers underperform. Our findings suggest that current knowledge about target setting may be incomplete, as supervisors may treat new managers differently.
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Date
2025-11-01
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Keywords
Managerial turnover, Peer performance informa tion, Relative target setting, Supervisor discretion, Target ratcheting, Target setting
Citation
Verschaeve, M, Cardinaels, E, Smeulders, D & den Abbeele, A V 2025, '“Go easy on me!” : Supervisor discretion in target setting after managerial turnover', Journal of Management Accounting Research, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 121-148. https://doi.org/10.2308/JMAR-2024-037
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info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess