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Cited by 394

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 14 of the 14 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The Transparency Paradox: A Role for Privacy in Organizational Learning and Operational Control

Open access
Bernstein, Ethan S.·2012·Administrative Science Quarterly

Abstract

Using data from embedded participant-observers and a field experiment at the second largest mobile phone factory in the world, located in China, I theorize and test the implications of transparent organizational design on workers’ productivity and organizational performance. Drawing from theory and research on learning and control, I introduce the notion of a transparency paradox, whereby maintaining observability of workers may counterintuitively reduce their performance by inducing those being observed to conceal their activities through codes and other costly means; conversely, creating zones of privacy may, under certain conditions, increase performance. Empirical evidence from the field shows that even a modest increase in group-level privacy sustainably and significantly improves line performance, while qualitative evidence suggests that privacy is important in supporting productive deviance, localized experimentation, distraction avoidance, and continuous improvement. I discuss implications of these results for theory on learning and control and suggest directions for future research.

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Metadata

Authors
Bernstein, E. S.
Venue
Administrative Science Quarterly
Published
2012-06
Volume
57
Issue
2
Pages
181-216
ISSN
  • 0001-8392 (ISSN-L)
  • 1930-3815
OpenAlex
W2041384361
Cited by
394
References
14
FWCI
28.15
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The Transparency Paradox: A Role for Privacy in Organizational Learning and Operational Control. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1177/0001839212453028
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Bernstein, E. S. (2012). The Transparency Paradox: A Role for Privacy in Organizational Learning and Operational Control. Administrative Science Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839212453028

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Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.