Title: Understanding the invisible hands of incentives

Authors: Ghaleb A. El Refae; Abdelhafid Belarbi; Mahmoud Yousef Askari

Addresses: College of Business, Al Ain University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 64141, Al Ain, UAE ' College of Business, Al Ain University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 64141, Al Ain, UAE ' College of Business, Al Ain University of Science and Technology, P.O. Box 64141, Al Ain, UAE

Abstract: This paper sheds light on the role of incentives in explaining why we do what we do. In this paper, we theorise that no action will take place in vacuum or without a certain incentive(s) and that for each and every action or behaviour, there is a known and/or a hidden incentive. We also theorise that the existence of incentives behind every action is not limited to rational incentives and the rationality of actors because irrational actions have their own irrational incentives. As well, we theorise that the existence of incentives in our daily life is the secret of a livable life and that the disappearance of incentives will lead to a total stop of every action and a total stop of life. In addition, we theorise that life at the micro, meso and macro levels can be created by creating the needed incentives for a given situation and life can also be taken away by removing incentives behind its existence. We also propose and introduce a new incentive-focussed management technique - management by incentives (MBI) - for an effective implementation of a goal achievement process.

Keywords: invisible hands; motivation; incentives; management by incentives; MBI.

DOI: 10.1504/GBER.2019.096851

Global Business and Economics Review, 2019 Vol.21 No.1, pp.3 - 13

Received: 03 Apr 2017
Accepted: 04 Jun 2017
Published online: 12 Dec 2018 *

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