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Voluntary leadership in an experimental trust game

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  • Kleine, Fabian
  • Königstein, Manfred
  • Rozsnyói, Balázs

Abstract

We present a lab experiment on an endogenous trust game in which one player (the principal) may decide to leave the investment choice to the agent or to take the investment decision himself/herself. In the latter case we refer to this as “voluntary leadership”. We show that voluntary leadership increases investment and increases backtransfer of the second mover compared to the alternative sequencing in which the agent is investor. We also show that investment and backtransfer are higher under voluntary leadership than in the control treatment with exogenously determined sequencing. Furthermore, we show that risk preference and inequality aversion as modeled formally by Fehr and Schmidt (1999) influence behavior in the endogenous trust game.

Suggested Citation

  • Kleine, Fabian & Königstein, Manfred & Rozsnyói, Balázs, 2014. "Voluntary leadership in an experimental trust game," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 442-452.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:108:y:2014:i:c:p:442-452
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2014.02.008
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    Cited by:

    1. Francesco Bogliacino & Laura Jiménez & Gianluca Grimalda, 2015. "Consultative, Democracy and Trust," Documentos de Trabajo, Escuela de Economía 12696, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, FCE, CID.
    2. Kandul, Serhiy & Uhl, Matthias, 2016. "Inspirations or incitements? Ethical mind-sets and the effect of moral examples," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 146-153.
    3. Bogliacino, Francesco & Jiménez Lozano, Laura & Grimalda, Gianluca, 2018. "Consultative democracy and trust11We thank Vanessa Carrillo, Jairo Paéz and Daniel Reyes for their help during the experiments. A special thanks to Franci Beltrán, Jairo Paéz and Alfonso Peña for prov," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 55-67.
    4. Bogliacino, Francesco & Grimalda, Gianluca & Jimenez, Laura, 2017. "Consultative Democracy & Trust," MPRA Paper 82138, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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