IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/osfxxx/hwkny_v1.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Applications of Signaling Theory in Sociological Scholarship

Author

Listed:
  • Przepiorka, Wojtek

    (Utrecht University)

Abstract

Signaling theory (ST) describes how people deal with and overcome uncertainties about others’ attributes and intentions relevant to their interactions. I integrate ST into a multilevel framework to highlight how people's need to overcome these uncertainties shapes collective outcomes and to spell out the different conditions for the theory's predictions. After a nontechnical outline of the integrated ST framework, I review three strands of sociological scholarship that have applied ST, broadly construed: (a) the job market and the education-to-work transition, (b) trust and cooperation in social and economic exchange relations, and (c) signaling norms and boundary making in intergroup relations. After recounting how ST has spurred the sociological imagination, I sketch promising research directions.

Suggested Citation

  • Przepiorka, Wojtek, 2025. "Applications of Signaling Theory in Sociological Scholarship," OSF Preprints hwkny_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:osfxxx:hwkny_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/hwkny_v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/681a0ea2e3323659360a7bbb/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/hwkny_v1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer L. Doleac & Luke C.D. Stein, 2013. "The Visible Hand: Race and Online Market Outcomes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123(11), pages 469-492, November.
    2. Rebecca Bliege Bird & Elspeth Ready & Eleanor A. Power, 2018. "The social significance of subtle signals," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 2(7), pages 452-457, July.
    3. Fabrizio Zerbini, 2017. "CSR Initiatives as Market Signals: A Review and Research Agenda," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(1), pages 1-23, November.
    4. Diego Gambetta & Wojtek Przepiorka, 2014. "Natural and Strategic Generosity as Signals of Trustworthiness," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(5), pages 1-9, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jia, Z. Tingting & McMahon, Matthew J., 2020. "Being watched in an investment game setting: Behavioral changes when making risky decisions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    2. Jialing (Catherine) Lin & Zhimin Zhou & Fucheng Zheng & Xinru Jiang & Ninh Nguyen, 2023. "How do hotel star ratings affect the relationship between environmental CSR and green word‐of‐mouth?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(5), pages 2651-2663, September.
    3. Priyanga Gunarathne & Huaxia Rui & Abraham Seidmann, 2022. "Racial Bias in Customer Service: Evidence from Twitter," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(1), pages 43-54, March.
    4. Mujcic, Redzo & Frijters, Paul, 2013. "Still Not Allowed on the Bus: It Matters If You're Black or White!," IZA Discussion Papers 7300, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Gary F. Peters & Andrea M. Romi & Juan Manuel Sanchez, 2019. "The Influence of Corporate Sustainability Officers on Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 159(4), pages 1065-1087, November.
    6. Anthony Edo & Nicolas Jacquemet & Constantine Yannelis, 2019. "Language skills and homophilous hiring discrimination: Evidence from gender and racially differentiated applications," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 349-376, March.
    7. Kevin Lang & Ariella Kahn-Lang Spitzer, 2020. "Race Discrimination: An Economic Perspective," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 68-89, Spring.
    8. Gwarlann Kerviler & Nico Heuvinck & Elodie Gentina, 2022. "“Make an Effort and Show Me the Love!” Effects of Indexical and Iconic Authenticity on Perceived Brand Ethicality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 89-110, August.
    9. Bryson, Alex & Chevalier, Arnaud, 2015. "Is there a taste for racial discrimination amongst employers?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 51-63.
    10. Morten Størling Hedegaard & Jean-Robert Tyran, 2018. "The Price of Prejudice," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(1), pages 40-63, January.
    11. Lepinteur, Anthony & Menta, Giorgia & Waltl, Sofie R., 2025. "Equal price for equal place? Demand-driven racial discrimination in the housing market," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    12. Nicolás Ajzenman & Bruno Ferman & Sant’Anna Pedro C., 2023. "Discrimination in the Formation of Academic Networks: A Field Experiment on #EconTwitter," Working Papers 235, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    13. María Lourdes Arco-Castro & María Victoria Lopez-Pérez & Sara Rodriguez-Gomez & Raquel Garde-Sánchez, 2020. "Do Stakeholders Modulate Philanthropic Strategy? Corporate Philanthropy as Stakeholders’ Engagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-18, September.
    14. Jacquemet, Nicolas & Yannelis, Constantine, 2012. "Indiscriminate discrimination: A correspondence test for ethnic homophily in the Chicago labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 824-832.
    15. Yuan Qiu & Di Zhou, 2024. "De‐politicization and corporate social responsibility: Empirical evidence from China," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 3668-3684, July.
    16. Castillo, Marco & Petrie, Ragan & Torero, Maximo & Vesterlund, Lise, 2013. "Gender differences in bargaining outcomes: A field experiment on discrimination," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 35-48.
    17. Jiang, Rong & Kang, Yuanjie & Liu, Yongsong & Liang, Zhihong & Duan, Yunlong & Sun, Yani & Liu, Jialan, 2022. "A trust transitivity model of small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises under blockchain-based supply chain finance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    18. Douglas Cumming & Jun Hu & Huiying Wu, 2024. "Leaving a Legacy for my Children: The One-Child Policy Reform and Engagement in CSR Among Family Firms in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(3), pages 611-632, September.
    19. Licheng Yang & Shijie Song & Chunlin Liu, 2024. "Green signals: The impact of environmental protection support policies on firms' green innovation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 3258-3278, May.
    20. Li, Zhaotong & Wu, Min & Teo, Chee-Chong & Yuen, Kum Fai, 2024. "An investigation of consumer switching intention on the use of automated courier station from a signaling perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:osfxxx:hwkny_v1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://osf.io/preprints/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.