The Theory of Agency and Organizational Analysis

Abstract

This paper distinguishes three overlapping literatures in agency theory, that focused on the theory of the firm or the positive theory of agency approach, that labeled as the risk and information or decision theoretic approach, and that denoted as the sociological or organizational or integrative social science approach. After describing each approach, the paper offers some criticisms of the economics-based approaches to agency from the perspective of other social science literatures and suggests some areas that should be of significant interest to scholars seeking to develop an agency-based theory of organizations. The paper concludes with some research questions that should be addressed in future work on agency and organizations.The publisher introduced significant errata during the publication process. This version, with corrections inserted, was posted in order to make a corrected copy generally available.

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