Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rajguru, P., Churchill, I. R., Graham, G.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.21467
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866915694053949440
author Rajguru, P.
Churchill, I. R.
Graham, G.
author_facet Rajguru, P.
Churchill, I. R.
Graham, G.
contents The Peter Principle posits that organizations promoting their best performers risk elevating employees to roles where their competence no longer translates, thereby degrading overall efficiency. We investigate when this dynamic emerges and how to mitigate it using a large-scale agent-based model (ABM) of a five-level hierarchy. Results show the Peter Principle is most pronounced under merit promotion when role requirements change substantially between levels; seniority and random exhibit the weakest Peter effects. Both interventions mitigate performance declines, with merit-with-training particularly effective when skill transfer is limited, and selective demotion restoring agents whose 'true' peak performance is at lower levels.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_21467
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Peter Principle Revisited: An Agent-Based Model of Promotions, Efficiency, and Mitigation Policies
Rajguru, P.
Churchill, I. R.
Graham, G.
General Economics
Economics
The Peter Principle posits that organizations promoting their best performers risk elevating employees to roles where their competence no longer translates, thereby degrading overall efficiency. We investigate when this dynamic emerges and how to mitigate it using a large-scale agent-based model (ABM) of a five-level hierarchy. Results show the Peter Principle is most pronounced under merit promotion when role requirements change substantially between levels; seniority and random exhibit the weakest Peter effects. Both interventions mitigate performance declines, with merit-with-training particularly effective when skill transfer is limited, and selective demotion restoring agents whose 'true' peak performance is at lower levels.
title The Peter Principle Revisited: An Agent-Based Model of Promotions, Efficiency, and Mitigation Policies
topic General Economics
Economics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.21467