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Group Formation in a Public Good Experiment

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Author Info
Joep H. Sonnemans () (University of Amsterdam)
Frans van Dijk (Ministry of Justice, The Hague)
Frans A.A.M. van Winden () (University of Amsterdam)
Abstract

Economic behavior often takes place in groups of small numbers of people interacting with each other (like work teams, neighborhoods, social networks, etc.). Characteristic of such interaction is the development of (affective) interpersonal relationships, or social ties. According to sociologists, the embeddedness of economic behavior in networks of social ties has a profound impact on economic performance. Although, in economics, there is a growing awareness of the significance of social factors, the study of social dynamics is still in its infancy. In this paper we investigate experimentally the development of social ties structures, and thereby the formation of informal groups, through economic interaction in a public good environment. It turns out that complicated dynamics arise from individual differences in social value orientation and (affective) response patterns. Our findings point at the importance of leadership in controlling and channeling emotions and sentiments to build effective groups, like teams or communities. This leads to a different perspective on management than the one provided by standard agency theory.

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Paper provided by Tinbergen Institute in its series Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers with number 99-093/1.

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Date of creation: 08 Dec 1999
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Handle: RePEc:dgr:uvatin:19990093

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  1. Offerman, Theo & Sonnemans, Joep & Schram, Arthur, 1996. "Value Orientations, Expectations and Voluntary Contributions in Public Goods," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(437), pages 817-45, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Coleman, James S, 1984. "Introducing Social Structure into Economic Analysis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(2), pages 84-88, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Scott A. Boorman, 1975. "A Combinatorial Optimization Model for Transmission of Job Information through Contact Networks," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 6(1), pages 216-249, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Keser, Claudia & van Winden, Frans, 2000. " Conditional Cooperation and Voluntary Contributions to Public Goods," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 102(1), pages 23-39, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Sonnemans, Joep & Schram, Arthur & Offerman, Theo, 1998. "Public good provision and public bad prevention: The effect of framing," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 143-161, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Hollander, Heinz, 1990. "A Social Exchange Approach to Voluntary Cooperation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1157-67, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Sonnemans, Joep & Schram, Arthur & Offerman, Theo, 1999. "Strategic behavior in public good games: when partners drift apart," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 35-41, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. van Dijk, Frans & Sonnemans, Joep & van Winden, Frans, 2002. "Social ties in a public good experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 275-299, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Akerlof, George A, 1983. "Loyalty Filters," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(1), pages 54-63, March.
  11. Bernheim, B Douglas, 1994. "A Theory of Conformity," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(5), pages 841-77, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Kreps, David M, 1997. "Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Incentives," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 359-64, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Rotemberg, Julio J, 1994. "Human Relations in the Workplace," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(4), pages 684-717, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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