Reputational Concerns and Advice-Seeking at Work

Abstract

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.

Keywords: advice-seeking, reputational concerns, stereotypes, higher-order beliefs, knowledge flows, experiment

JEL Classification: J16, J24, D83, D91, M51