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Do Managers Reciprocate? Field Experimental Evidence From a Competitive Market Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics Michel André Maréchal ()
Christian Thöni
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A substantive amount of lab experimental evidence suggests that the norm of reciprocity has important economic consequences. However, it is unclear whether the norm of reciprocity survives in a natural and competitive environment with experienced agents. For this purpose we analyze data from a natural field experiment conducted with sales representatives who were instructed to randomly distribute product samples as gifts to their business partners. We find that distributing gifts to store managers boosts sales revenue substantially, which is consistent with the notion of reciprocity. However, the results underline that the nature of the relationship between market participants crucially affects the prevalence of reciprocal behavior.
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Paper provided by Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen in its series University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2007 with number
2007-09.
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Length: 26 pages
Date of creation: Apr 2007Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:usg:dp2007:2007-09Contact details of provider: Postal: Dufourstrasse 50, CH - 9000 St.Gallen Email: Web page: http://www.vwa.unisg.ch/ More information through EDIRC
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Joerg Baumberger).
Keywords: reciprocity ; gift exchange ; field experiment ; Find related papers by JEL classification: D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports :
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Journal of Political Economy ,
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references Cited by : (explanations , Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile , click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)
Charles Bellemare & Bruce Shearer, 2007.
"Gift Exchange within a Firm: Evidence from a Field Experiment ,"
Cahiers de recherche
0708, CIRPEE.
[Downloadable!]
Other versions: Sebastian Kube & Michel André Maréchal & Clemens Puppe, 2008.
"The Currency of Reciprocity - Gift-Exchange in the Workplace ,"
IEW - Working Papers
iewwp377, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW.
[Downloadable!]
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