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The Currency of Reciprocity - Gift-Exchange in the Workplace

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Author Info
Sebastian Kube
Michel André Maréchal
Clemens Puppe

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Abstract

What determines reciprocity in employment relations? We conducted a controlled field experiment and tested the extent to which cash and non-monetary gifts affect workers' productivity. Our main finding is that the nature of the gift, not its monetary value, determines the prevalence of reciprocal reactions. A gift in-kind results in a significant and substantial increase in workers' productivity. An equivalent cash gift, on the other hand, is largely ineffective - even though an additional experiment showed that workers would strongly favor the gift's cash equivalent.

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Paper provided by Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW in its series IEW - Working Papers with number iewwp377.

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Date of creation: Jul 2008
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Handle: RePEc:zur:iewwpx:377

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Related research
Keywords: Field experiment; reciprocity; gift exchange; fringe benefits; perks; compensation.;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
J30 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - General

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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.:
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    Other versions:
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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.)

  1. Susanne Neckermann & Reto Cueni & Bruno S. Frey, 2009. "What is an Award Worth? An Econometric Assessment of the Impact of Awards on Employee Performance," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
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