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Positive and negative reciprocity in the labor market

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  • Pereira, Paulo T.
  • Silva, Nuno
  • Silva, Joao Andrade e

Abstract

This paper reports results of an experiment designed to analyze whether reciprocal behavior survives in a more hostile environment than usually considered in the literature. In fact, positive reciprocity survives in a treatment favoring selfish behavior, although there is a decrease in the deviations from the subgame perfect Nash equilibrium. Besides positive reciprocity there is negative reciprocity in this new treatment. Additionally, this paper highlights the influence of the experimental design, namely the importance of wage cut points, on subjects' behavior.
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  • Pereira, Paulo T. & Silva, Nuno & Silva, Joao Andrade e, 2006. "Positive and negative reciprocity in the labor market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 59(3), pages 406-422, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:59:y:2006:i:3:p:406-422
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    Cited by:

    1. Al-Ubaydli, Omar & Lee, Min Sok, 2009. "An experimental study of asymmetric reciprocity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(2), pages 738-749, November.
    2. Akinori Tomohara & Akihiko Ohno, 2014. "Valuing non-pecuniary instruments of human resource management," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 61(1), pages 1-11, April.
    3. Brandes, Leif & Franck, Egon, 2012. "Social preferences or personal career concerns? Field evidence on positive and negative reciprocity in the workplace," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 925-939.
    4. Montizaan, R.M. & de Grip, A. & Fouarge, D., 2015. "Training access, reciprocity, and expected retirement age," Research Memorandum 005, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    5. Fortuna Casoria & Arno Riedl, 2013. "Experimental Labor Markets And Policy Considerations: Incomplete Contracts And Macroeconomic Aspects," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 398-420, July.
    6. Al-Ubaydli, Omar & Gneezy, Uri & Lee, Min Sok & List, John A., 2010. "Towards an understanding of the relative strengths of positive and negative reciprocity," Judgment and Decision Making, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(7), pages 524-539, December.
    7. Danková, Katarína & Servátka, Maroš, 2015. "The house money effect and negative reciprocity," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 60-71.
    8. Elwyn Davies & Marcel Fafchamps, 2017. "When No Bad Deed Goes Punished: Relational Contracting in Ghana versus the UK," NBER Working Papers 23123, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Israel Waichman & Ch’ng Kean Siang & Till Requate & Aric P. Shafran & Eva Camacho-Cuena & Yoshio Iida & Shosh Shahrabani, 2015. "Reciprocity in Labor Market Relationships: Evidence from an Experiment across High-Income OECD Countries," Games, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-22, October.
    10. Bicskei, Marianna & Lankau, Matthias & Bizer, Kilian, 2014. "Negative reciprocity and its relation to anger-like emotions in homogeneous and heterogeneous groups," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 203, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    11. Bicskei, Marianna & Lankau, Matthias & Bizer, Kilian, 2016. "Negative reciprocity and its relation to anger-like emotions in identity-homogeneous and -heterogeneous groups," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 17-34.
    12. Akinori Tomohara & Akihiko Ohno, 2013. "What are Relevant Work Incentive Models? Shirking Model, Gift Exchange Model, or Reciprocity Model," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 241-252, June.
    13. Sandrine Frémeaux & Grant Michelson, 2011. ""No Strings Attached": Welcoming the Existential Gift in Business," Post-Print hal-00797037, HAL.
    14. James D. Westphal & David L. Deephouse, 2011. "Avoiding Bad Press: Interpersonal Influence in Relations Between CEOs and Journalists and the Consequences for Press Reporting About Firms and Their Leadership," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 1061-1086, August.
    15. Charness, Gary & Kuhn, Peter, 2011. "Lab Labor: What Can Labor Economists Learn from the Lab?," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 3, pages 229-330, Elsevier.
    16. Akinori Tomohara & Akihiko Ohno, 2016. "Domains of reciprocity beyond monetary compensation: How do non-pecuniary factors affect effort and shirking?," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1178884-117, December.
    17. Gary Charness & Guillaume R. Frechette & John H. Kagel, 2004. "How Robust is Laboratory Gift Exchange?," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 7(2), pages 189-205, June.
    18. Annarita COLASANTE & Alberto RUSSO, 2014. "Reciprocity in the labour market: experimental evidence," Working Papers 404, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    19. Sebastian Kube & Michel André Maréchal & Clemens Puppe, 2006. "Putting Reciprocity to Work - Positive versus Negative Responses in the Field," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2006 2006-27, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen.
    20. Benndorf, Volker & Rau, Holger A., 2012. "Competition in the workplace: An experimental investigation," DICE Discussion Papers 53, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    21. Sandrine Frémeaux & Grant Michelson, 2011. "‘No Strings Attached’: Welcoming the Existential Gift in Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 63-75, March.
    22. Fortuna Casoria & Arno Riedl, 2013. "Experimental Labor Markets And Policy Considerations: Incomplete Contracts And Macroeconomic Aspects," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 398-420, July.
    23. Davies, Elwyn & Fafchamps, Marcel, 2021. "When no bad deed goes punished: Relational contracting in Ghana and the UK," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 714-737.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

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