How can we motivate middle managers to take prudent risks and drive for performance for the organization? Store managers at national brick and mortar retail chains offered Professor Shannon Anderson and her co-authors an opportunity to examine how specific subjective ratings can reward such store managers, even if they are employed on a one-size-fits-all contract. "Subjectivity can be their friend," Anderson says. "If we can do a good job handicapping you, we can make sure good work is rewarded."

The study, “When one size does not fit all: Using ex post subjective ratings to provide parity in risk-adjusted compensation,” published online in June 2020 in Management Accounting Research, is available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1044500520300305