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An economic anatomy of culture: Attitudes and behaviour in inter- and intra-national ultimatum game experiments

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  • Chuah, Swee-Hoon
  • Hoffmann, Robert
  • Jones, Martin
  • Williams, Geoffrey

Abstract

We examine bargaining behaviour in experimental ultimatum games with Malaysian and UK subjects. Significant differences in offer levels between the two national groups are explained with reference to differences in their responses to particular dimensions of the World Values Survey questionnaire. These attitudinal differences are interpreted as cultural difference between the subject groups that are responsible for their differential behaviour.

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  • Chuah, Swee-Hoon & Hoffmann, Robert & Jones, Martin & Williams, Geoffrey, 2009. "An economic anatomy of culture: Attitudes and behaviour in inter- and intra-national ultimatum game experiments," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 732-744, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:30:y:2009:i:5:p:732-744
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    3. Aurora García-Gallego & Nikolaos Georgantzís & Ainhoa Jaramillo-Gutiérrez, 2013. "Country Differences in Ultimatum Wage Bargaining with a Real Task: Evidence from Greece, Spain and the UK," Working Papers 2013/13, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    4. Marc Piazolo, 2007. "Gerechtigkeit siegt über Eigennutz Ein Ultimatum Bargaining Game anhand von WM-Tickets," Proceedings-5th International Conference on Management, Enterprise and Benchmarking (MEB 2007),, Óbuda University, Keleti Faculty of Business and Management.
    5. Swee Hoon Chuah & Robert Hoffmann & Bala Ramasamy & Jonathan H. W. Tan, 2016. "Is there a Spirit of Overseas Chinese Capitalism?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1095-1118, December.
    6. Sun-Ki Chai & Dolgorsuren Dorj & Katerina Sherstyuk, 2018. "Cultural Values and Behavior in Dictator, Ultimatum, and Trust Games: An Experimental Study," Research in Experimental Economics, in: Experimental Economics and Culture, volume 20, pages 89-166, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    7. Kenju Akai & Robert J. Netzer, 2009. "Trust and Reciprocity among International Groups: Experimental Evidence from Austria and Japan," ISER Discussion Paper 0737r, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University, revised Aug 2010.
    8. Horak, Sven, 2013. "Cross-cultural experimental economics and indigenous management research: Issues and contributions," Working Papers on East Asian Studies 92/2013, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute of East Asian Studies IN-EAST.
    9. Ainhoa Jaramillo Gutiérrez & Nikolaos Georgantzis & Aurora García Gallego & Miguel Ginés Vilar, 2007. "Cultural And Risk-Related Determinants Of Gender Differences In Ultimatum Bargaining," Working Papers. Serie AD 2007-08, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
    10. Simon Gaechter & Benedikt Herrmann & Christian Thoeni, 2010. "Culture and Cooperation," Discussion Papers 2010-09, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    11. Güth, Werner & Kocher, Martin G., 2014. "More than thirty years of ultimatum bargaining experiments: Motives, variations, and a survey of the recent literature," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 396-409.
    12. Chuah, Swee-Hoon & Gächter, Simon & Hoffmann, Robert & Tan, Jonathan H.W., 2023. "Who discriminates? Evidence from a trust game experiment across three societies," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    13. Chuah, Swee Hoon & Gächter, Simon & Hoffmann, Robert & Tan, Jonathan H. W., 2015. "Religion, Discrimination and Trust," IZA Discussion Papers 9616, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Simon Gaechter & Benedikt Herrmann & Christian Thöni, 2010. "Culture and Cooperation," CESifo Working Paper Series 3070, CESifo.
      • Simon Gaechter & Benedikt Herrmann & Christian Thoeni, 2010. "Culture and Cooperation," Discussion Papers 2010-09, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
      • Simon Gaechter & Benedikt Herrmann & Christian Thoeni, 2010. "Culture and Cooperation," Discussion Papers 2010-09, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    15. Kuroda, Michael & Li, Jieran & Shachat, Jason & Wei, Lijia & Zhu, Bochen, 2022. "An experimental study of intra- and international cooperation: Chinese and American play in the Prisoner’s Dilemma Game," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    16. Fengwei Sun & Xiaoxiao Wang & Quanlan Yi & Mengliang Wu, 2015. "Does Culture Matter to Pro-Social Behavior? Evidence from a Cross-Ethnic Lab Experiment," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 7(6), pages 94-110.
    17. Chesney, Thomas & Chuah, Swee-Hoon & Hoffmann, Robert, 2009. "Virtual world experimentation: An exploratory study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 618-635, October.
    18. Swee-Hoon Chuah & Robert Hoffmann & Jeremy Larner, 2014. "Elicitation effects in a multi-stage bargaining experiment," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 17(2), pages 335-345, June.
    19. Weiwei Xia & Xiaohan Guo & Jun Luo & Hang Ye & Yefeng Chen & Shu Chen & Weisen Xia, 2023. "Religious affiliations of Chinese people and prosocial behavior: evidence from field experiments," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 27(3), pages 473-504, September.
    20. Thorsten Chmura, 2011. "Response Modes And Coordination In A Traffic Context, An Experimental Comparison Of Chinese And German Participants," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 56(04), pages 489-501.
    21. Chuah, Swee-Hoon & Hoffmann, Robert & Larner, Jeremy, 2014. "Chinese values and negotiation behaviour: A bargaining experiment," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1203-1211.
    22. Hoffmann, Robert & Coate, Bronwyn, 2022. "Fame, What’s your name? quasi and statistical gender discrimination in an art valuation experimentc," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 184-197.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Culture Attitudes World values survey Experiments Ultimatum game;

    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
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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