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Using a dictator game, we examine the other‐regarding behavior of allocators, who are given the responsibility of unilaterally making an allocation decision without consultation on behalf of a two‐person group between their group and another group. We then contrast the behavior of the same individuals in an analogous interindividual situation. We also explore other‐regarding perceptions of passive recipients, who are asked to give behavioral forecasts of how they would behave if assigned the allocator role and how they think their allocators would behave. Gender differences are found in both behavior and perceptions. Males are significantly more self‐interested and less other‐regarding when they are responsible for a group, while females behave similarly under both conditions. Female recipients' forecasts of their own behavior are significantly higher than both their expectations of allocators and the actual female behavior observed in the experiment. Both male and female recipients underestimate the other‐regarding behavior of allocators.

In recent decades, oxytocin (OT) has been extensively studied across disciplines. Yet, the role of OT has been discussed little in the context of politics. This chapter proposes that studying the role of this hormone can enrich and advance the study of politics. The chapter reviews the previous findings on OT categorized into two sections: one that focuses on the biological mechanisms and therapeutic potentials and another that focuses on the effects on social behaviors. This review is not exhaustive but is intended to bring political scientists up to date with the progress in OT studies. Next, this chapter highlights that studying the role of OT in political context will benefit both the OT and political science literature, since there is currently a great interest in the context-dependent nature of OT. I highlight several research questions that can be answered at this intersection. Rather than waiting for other disciplines to complete unfolding the precise role of OT, students of biopolitics can make important contributions. Political science can further understand the biological underpinnings of concern for others and partisan behaviors, while OT applied to real-world settings would demonstrate how different contexts shape its effects.

The question of whether, and to what extent, Chicago price theory is Marshallian is a large one, with many aspects. The theory of individual behavior is one of these, and the treatment of altruism, or, more generally, other-regarding behavior, falls within this domain. This chapter explores the analysis of other-regarding behavior in the work of Alfred Marshall and Gary Becker with a view to drawing out the similarities and differences in their respective approaches. What emerges is sense that we find in Becker’s work important commonalities with Marshall but also significant points of departure and that the line from Marshall to modern Chicago is neither as direct as it is sometimes portrayed, nor as faint as it is sometimes claimed by Chicago critics.

We study whether group identity mitigates inefficiencies associated with appropriable quasi-rents, which are often created by relationship-specific investments in bilateral trade relationships. We conjecture that group identity strengthens the effect of an agent’s generous action in increasing his trade partner’s altruistic preferences, and this effect helps reduce incentives to undertake ex-post inefficient opportunistic behavior such as investment in an outside option. Our experimental results, however, do not support this conjecture, and contrast with our previous experimental findings that group identity mitigates distortions in ex-ante efficient relation-specific investment. We discuss a possible cause of the difference and its implications for the theory of the firm.

This paper aims to examine how other-regarding personality traits relate to reciprocity among frontline employees (FLEs).

Other-regarding personality variables were used to model the propensity for reciprocity and actual reciprocal behaviors with coworkers. Surveys of 276 FLEs were examined via structural equations modeling.

Other-regarding personality traits proved to be antecedents of reciprocity. Cynicism was particularly interesting in that it was positively related to reciprocity contrary to findings in other research.

Among the interesting findings relating personality to reciprocity are a more affective type of reciprocity based on empathy and altruism, and a more calculative type based on cynicism related to Machiavellianism.

Managers can use the effects of personality traits on reciprocity and cooperation to hire and place FLEs in ways that provide superior service and increased profits.

This paper indicates that certain individuals who might not typically be thought of as cooperative can in fact reciprocate. Specific ideas about cynicism and Machiavellian reciprocity in FLEs are discussed.

The findings will aid researchers and managers in understanding personality and FLEs cooperation. The findings on cynicism are particularly valuable in that they contradict some earlier research and commonly held managerial ideas.

Participative budgeting can benefita firm by incorporating subordinates’ private information into financing and operating decisions. In the managerial accounting literature, studies of participative budgeting posit superiors that range from passively committed to highly active participants, some of whom are permitted to communicate, choose compensation schemes, negotiate with subordinates, and reject budgets. This paper synthesizes and analyzes experimental research in participative budgeting with a focus on the role of the superior defined in the research design, and on how that role affects budget outcomes, subordinate behavior, and in some cases superior behavior. We demonstrate how superior type influences economic and behavioral predictions, and likewise affects budgeting outcomes and the interpretation of the results. This paper is intended to further our understanding of how superior type affects behavior in participative budgeting studies, and to facilitate the choice of superior type in future research designs.

Shows the importance of heeding Clem Tisdell’s call to devote attention to values and to consider further the limitations of unbounded rationality models in economic research. Outlines the implications of a criticism of choice theory for environmental decision‐making. The critics of positivist philosophy of science show that it is impossible to carry out any analysis without making value judgements. The economist cannot escape this neither in theoretical analyses nor in applied studies. In relation to Clem Tisdell’s call to consider values without pontificating on them, it is important to make two points. First, the analysts should state as clearly as possible the values that guide their specific analyses. Second, they could provide the decision makers with a range of options that depend on different stakeholders’ ethical positions. Describes elements of the participatory decision‐making process. It is noted that this approach to evaluation may enhance the rationality of the choices; better represent the values of the various stakeholders; and allow an improved interaction between individuals and institutions.

Research on entrepreneurship toward poverty reduction has outlined how micro-level characteristics of entrepreneurs capture entrepreneurial opportunities in settings of poverty; however, little is known about the influence of previous military experience in this context. This paper investigates how previous military experience influences poverty-reduction entrepreneurship.

This study uses data from two main sources. First, individual-level and firm-level information come from a nationwide survey of founders of private enterprises. Second, province-level information is taken from the Marketization Index and the China Statistics Yearbook. An analysis of the Logit moderation model renders strong support for our conjectures.

Via novel integration of imprinting theory and research on previous military experience, we propose that entrepreneurs with previous military experience have a strong sense of self-sacrifice, and as a result, are better able to participate in poverty-reduction entrepreneurship. In addition, we build on the resource availability and stakeholder expectations arguments and predict that the main effect of previous military experience on poverty-reduction entrepreneurship will be strengthened by reduced corporate philanthropy and increased government intervention.

Our study adds to the extant literature in the following ways. First, it enriches the literature on entrepreneurship toward poverty reduction. Second, it contributes to imprinting theory in the entrepreneurial field. Third, it adds knowledge to the social entrepreneurship literature.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the question of how far costly transfers of economic benefits to others, often understood in economics as instances of (behavioural) altruism, can be motivated by individual group status concerns, i.e. without the common reference to other‐regarding preferences.

Results from both economics and social psychology are reviewed and spliced together so as to obtain a more comprehensive picture of group status‐based aspects of behavioural altruism. A more formal argument is provided in order to highlight specific effects. Applications (e.g. migration and workforce motivation) are discussed to support the argument and to illustrate its practical relevance.

The reviewed literature indeed supports the argument that individuals care about the status of the groups they belong to and are willing to trade this against economic benefits. Accordingly, certain altruistic acts can be motivated by the individual's (selfish) concern for group status. However, the effect apparently depends on the degree of the individual's identification with the respective group which opens ways to influence its strength.

The argument may help policy makers, chief executive officers, and people in similar positions who have to design decision environments, i.e. institutions, in a way that motivates the eventual decision makers to transfer economic benefits (e.g. donations, taxes, effort, …) to the respective institution.

The paper adds to the discussion about the driving forces behind altruistic behaviour. In particular, it points out the potential importance of group status concerns in connection with aspects of social identity for individual decisions to transfer economic benefits to others. The relevance of the effect in view of the design of institutions is discussed.

In recent years, it is increasingly common to find situations in which economic or financial decisions are combined with philanthropic or charity issues (for example, “pay what you can”, cause-related marketing initiatives and micro-insurance). How do people behave in these situations? This study aims to analyze whether charity impacts agents’ economic behavior and which factors (gender and social distance) influence these decisions.

Using a modified one-period ultimatum game that includes a charitable giving variable, the authors investigate agents’ behavior in economic decisions when philanthropic issues are considered, and they compare this behavior to purely economic negotiation without explicit philanthropic relevance. Using a sample of 352 undergraduate business students, the authors explore the interaction effect between gender and social distance on giving behavior.

The results of this study show that women offer more than men when philanthropic motivation is involved. However, the solicitation of a charitable sentiment is not an element that substantially shifts the offers beyond the value considered to be economically fair. Finally, women and men are both susceptible to self-image concerns.

The results enable a more nuanced interpretation of gender differences in economic decisions when philanthropic or charity issues are involved. From a practical perspective, the findings could offer insights relevant to for-profit and non-profit organizations when they plan to provide products, services or investments with positive moral connotations or when they plan fundraising strategies.

Unlike existing laboratory studies, this study focuses on the effects that charity has on economic/financial decisions by exploring the interaction effect between the decision-maker’s gender and social distance on the outcome of the negotiation.