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Indirect Reciprocity; A Field Experiment

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  • Jacobien van Apeldoorn
  • Arthur Schram

Abstract

Indirect reciprocity involves cooperative acts towards strangers, either in response to their kindness to third parties (downstream) or after receiving kindness from others oneself (upstream). It is considered to be important for the evolution of cooperative behavior amongst humans. Though it has been widely studied theoretically, the empirical evidence of indirect reciprocity has thus far been limited and based solely on behavior in laboratory experiments. We provide evidence from an online environment where members can repeatedly ask and offer services to each other, free of charge. For the purpose of this study we created several new member profiles, which differ only in terms of their serving history. We then sent out a large number of service requests to different members from all over the world. We observe that a service request is more likely to be rewarded for those with a profile history of offering the service (to third parties) in the past. This provides clear evidence of (downstream) indirect reciprocity. We find no support for upstream indirect reciprocity (in this case, rewarding the service request after having previously received the service from third parties), however. Our evidence of downstream indirect reciprocity cannot be attributed to reputational effects concerning one’s trustworthiness as a service user.

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  • Jacobien van Apeldoorn & Arthur Schram, 2016. "Indirect Reciprocity; A Field Experiment," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-11, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0152076
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152076
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Jeworrek, Sabrina & Leisen, Bernd Josef & Mertins, Vanessa, 2021. "Gift-exchange in society and the social integration of refugees–Evidence from a survey, a laboratory, and a field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 482-499.
    5. Sautua, Santiago I., 2022. "Donation requests following a pay rise," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    6. Isamu Okada, 2020. "A Review of Theoretical Studies on Indirect Reciprocity," Games, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, July.
    7. Jeworrek, Sabrina & Leisen, Bernd Josef & Mertins, Vanessa, 2020. "Gift-exchange in society and the social integration of refugees: Evidence from a field, a laboratory, and a survey experiment," IWH Discussion Papers 17/2019, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), revised 2020.
    8. Wendelin Schneder & Nina Lucia Stephan, 2018. "Revisiting a remedy against the chain of unkindness," Working Papers Dissertations 45, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    9. Wendelin Schnedler & Nina Lucia Stephan, 2019. "When letter writing increases kindness: Regulating emotions or activating pro-social thinking?," Working Papers Dissertations 29, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.

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