Delegating decisions to a lottery can reduce preference for control

Foucart, Renaud and Georgalos, Konstantinos and Estache, Antonio (2025) Delegating decisions to a lottery can reduce preference for control. Economics Letters: 112676. ISSN 0165-1765 (In Press)

Abstract

We compare in a laboratory experiment preferences for control versus two different forms of delegation. Subjects solve tasks and choose to be paid based on their own answer, their matched partner’s answer, or a “choice lottery” that randomly selects between the two with equal probability. The standard preference for direct control prevails when the delegation is to a specific person. It disappears when the delegation is to a choice lottery. This suggests that resistance to delegation may be reduced when decision-makers can retain partial control by contributing to the choice even if only randomly.