Reciprocal Reactions to (In)Transparent Task Assignments: An Experimental Investigation

Abstract

We investigate how the transparency of selecting an agent affects the agent’s reciprocal behavior. In a modified gift-exchange game, agents either receive information about having (not) been selected or receive no such information at all, which allows to analyze reciprocity of agents who were not the preferred choice of the principal. While we find no overall effect of transparency, we find opposing gender-specific reactions: men’s behavior is in line with intention-based reciprocity, whereas women’s behavior is not. Our observations can be explained by gender-specific attribution styles of successes and failures (i.e., of having been selected or not).öööö

Keywords: intention-based reciprocity, employee selection, attribution styles, gender differences, guilt proneness