Trust, Positive Reciprocity, and Negative Reciprocity: Do These Traits Impact Entrepreneurial Dynamics?

37 Pages Posted: 19 Dec 2010

See all articles by Marco Caliendo

Marco Caliendo

University of Potsdam; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Frank M. Fossen

University of Nevada, Reno; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Alexander Kritikos

Europa-Universitaet Viadrina - Fakultat fur Wirtschaftswissenschaften; German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Abstract

Experimental evidence reveals that there is a strong willingness to trust and to act in both positively and negatively reciprocal ways. So far it is rarely analyzed whether these variables of social cognition influence everyday decision making behavior. We focus on entrepreneurs who are permanently facing exchange processes in the interplay with investors, sellers, and buyers, as well as needing to trust others and reciprocate with their network. We base our analysis on the German Socio-Economic Panel and recently introduced questions about trust, positive reciprocity, and negative reciprocity to examine the extent that these variables influence the entrepreneurial decision processes. More specifically, we analyze whether i) the willingness to trust other people influences the probability of starting a business; ii) trust, positive reciprocity, and negative reciprocity influence the exit probability of entrepreneurs; and iii) willingness to trust and to act reciprocally influences the probability of being an entrepreneur versus an employee or a manager. Our findings reveal that, in particular, trust impacts entrepreneurial development. Interestingly, entrepreneurs are more trustful than employees, but much less trustful than managers.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, trust, reciprocity

JEL Classification: D81, J23, M13, L26

Suggested Citation

Caliendo, Marco and Fossen, Frank M. and Kritikos, Alexander S., Trust, Positive Reciprocity, and Negative Reciprocity: Do These Traits Impact Entrepreneurial Dynamics?. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5370, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1728327 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1728327

Marco Caliendo (Contact Author)

University of Potsdam ( email )

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Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) ( email )

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Frank M. Fossen

University of Nevada, Reno ( email )

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United States

HOME PAGE: http://business.unr.edu/faculty/ffossen/

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Alexander S. Kritikos

Europa-Universitaet Viadrina - Fakultat fur Wirtschaftswissenschaften ( email )

15230 Frankfurt (Oder)
Germany

German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) ( email )

Mohrenstraße 58
Berlin, 10117
Germany

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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