This study examines how the effort managers expend to acquire information influences their reporting behavior. Greater effort can create psychological ownership, which may lead to two opposing effects: a sense of deservingness that increases opportunistic reporting, or a sense of responsibility that reduces it. Using a budget reporting experiment, the author manipulates (1) whether managers earn information through effort or receive it effortlessly, and (2) the salience of honesty in the reporting context (framed as a business vs. ethical dilemma).
Results show that when honesty is less salient, managers who earn information report more opportunistically (add more slack) than those who are endowed with information. However, when honesty is emphasized, this effect is mitigated. A supplemental experiment confirms that psychological ownership—and its impact on reporting—can also be induced through subtle cues like personalized messaging. The findings suggest that reducing information acquisition effort or increasing honesty salience (e.g., through ethical framing or codes of conduct) can help curb opportunistic reporting.
