Trust in triads: Experience effects

Buskens et al. (2010; hereafter BRV) tested game-theoretic hypotheses about embeddedness effects on trust experimentally. We provide evidence from an extended replication of their experiment. The new experiment sheds light on how experience affects behavior in embedded Trust Games.     

Ex Post Problems in Buyer–Supplier Transactions: Effects of Transaction Characteristics, Social Embeddedness, and Contractual Governance

This paper focuses on ex post governance of inter-firm transactions. We develop and test hypotheses on the occurrence of ex post problems like delivery delays, inferior quality, and insufficient service in buyer–supplier transactions. Our hypotheses address effects of transaction characteristics, of social embeddedness, and of contractual governance on the occurrence of problems. Other than earlier research on embeddedness effects in this field, we consider not only effects of dyadic embeddedness but also effects of network embeddedness. We test hypotheses using rich survey data on more than 1200 purchases of information technology (IT) products: hardware and software, both standard and complex. We find evidence for effects of transaction characteristics on the occurrence of problems, while our data do not support hypotheses on effects of contractual governance. Our data provide rather consistent support for hypotheses on the effects of embeddedness. Specifically, we find evidence that network embeddedness reduces problems.     

Evidence for the need to distinguish between self-initiated and organizationally imposed overload in studies of work stress

This study attempts to enhance our understanding of the inconsistencies reported in the literature concerning the relationship between work overload and work outcomes. We tested the proposition that work overload should be divided into two constructs based on its source: self-initiated overload (SIO), and organization-imposed overload (OIO). Based on the work stress and job crafting literatures, we expected that SIO and OIO would tend to relate differentially to the work outcomes of job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, work–family conflict, job performance, and helping organizational citizenship behaviours. A study was conducted using three samples, the first consisting of full-time employed students in three countries (N?=?116), the second consisting of the nursing staffs of six private hospitals in Switzerland, and the third consisting of 161 middle manager–supervisor dyads in Switzerland. Two different measures of SIO and OIO were used. SIO was found to have a more beneficial relationship with the work outcomes than OIO, general supporting our hypothesis. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The rationality of social structure: Cooperation in social dilemmas through investments in and returns on social capital

We develop a game-theoretic model of how social structure in the sense of a network of relations between actors helps to mitigate social dilemmas. We simultaneously endogenize the network by modeling actors’ incentives to establish the network. Since the network of relations helps to mitigate social dilemmas, it constitutes social capital. We thus analyze investments in and returns on social capital in social dilemmas and characterize the value of social capital. Our model covers a class of social dilemma games including the Trust Game, the Investment Game, the Prisoner's Dilemma, the two-actor Public Goods Game, and others.     

A close look at why one social norms campaign did not reduce student drinking

The authors examined 3 possible explanations for the failure of a social norms campaign at a large public university. They administered an anonymous survey to 2 random samples of undergraduate classes: a baseline assessment of 616 students before the campaign's implementation and a follow-up survey of 723 students 4 academic years later. At follow-up, 66.5% of the students were aware of the campaign, yet the survey revealed no reduction in perceived drinking norms or alcohol use in this group. An analysis of the postcampaign sample revealed that (1) a majority of the students did not find the statistics used in the campaign messages credible, (2) higher levels of alcohol use predicted lower levels of perceived campaign credibility, and (3) only 38.5% of the students understood the campaign's intended purpose. If they are to influence personally relevant drinking norms, these campaigns must undergo further development to enhance message credibility and participants' understanding.     

Child Marriage Laws around the World: Minimum Marriage Age,Legal Exceptions,and Gender Disparities

ABSTRACT

The marriage of children below 18 is widely recognized in international human rights agreements as a discriminatory global practice that hinders the development and well-being of hundreds of millions of girls. Using a new global policy database, we analyze national legislation regarding minimum marriage age, exceptions permitting marriage at earlier ages, and gender disparities in laws. While our longitudinal data indicate improvements in frequencies of countries with legal provisions that prohibit marriage below the age of 18, important gaps remain in eliminating legal exceptions and gender discrimination.     

Trust in triads: An experimental study

Pairs of trustors play finitely repeated Trust Games with the same trustee in a laboratory experiment. We study trustfulness of the trustor and trustworthiness of the trustee. We distinguish between learning and control effects on behavior. Learning effects are related to the trustor's information on past behavior of the trustee. Control effects are related to the trustor's opportunities for sanctioning a trustee in future interactions. Hypotheses on learning and control effects are derived from backward-looking learning models and from forward-looking models of strategic behavior. The design of the experiment, with respect to trustfulness, allows for disentangling learning effects from a trustor's own experience with the trustee and learning effects through third-party information. Also, the design enables disentangling control effects on trustworthiness and trustfulness through a trustor's own sanction opportunities and opportunities for third-party sanctions. We find evidence for learning and control effects. The trustor's own experiences, the experiences of the other trustor, as well as the trustor's own sanction opportunities affect trustfulness. We find evidence for control effects on trustworthiness, including effects arising from opportunities for third-party sanctions. However, there is no evidence for control effects through opportunities for third-party sanctions on trustfulness. This could indicate limited strategic rationality of trustors.     

Friendship and Delinquency: Selection and Influence Processes in Early Adolescence

Positive association of relevant characteristics is a widespread pattern among adolescent friends. A positive association may be caused by the selection of similar others as friends and by the deselection of dissimilar ones, but also by influence processes where friends adjust their behavior to each other. Social control theory argues that adolescents select each other as friends based on delinquency. Differential association theory, on the other hand, argues that adolescent friends influence each other's delinquency levels. We employ new statistical methods for assessing the empirical evidence for either process while controlling for the other process. These methods are based on ‘actor‐oriented’ stochastic simulation models. We analyze longitudinal data on friendship networks and delinquent behavior collected in four waves of 544 students in 21 first‐grade classrooms of Dutch secondary schools. Results indicate that adolescents select others as friends who have a similar level of delinquency compared with their own level. Estimates of the social influence parameters are not significant. The results are consistent with social control theory but provide no support for differential association theory.