Trust
The simplest agency model assumes that no agents are trustworthy and if an agent can
make himself better off at the expense of a principal then he will. This ignores the
likelihood that some agents will in fact be trustworthy and will work in their principals’
interests whether or not their performance is monitored and output measured. The degree
of untrustworthiness is therefore a key factor in determining the extent to which
incentives and monitoring mechanisms need to be put in place.