Doctoral Dissertation Research: Attribution and Commitment in Different Types of Exchange

社会科学家观察到，个体经常反复选择与相同的伙伴互动，即使付出一些代价；这种行为被社会学家称为承诺形成。承诺形成的来源在社会科学的许多学科中一直存在争议。在很大程度上，这项研究主要关注的是行为承诺，即个体与同一伴侣的反复互动。尽管理性选择观点认为行为承诺不应该形成，除非存在很高的搜索成本，但实验和实地研究表明，行为承诺的发生频率远高于理性选择观点所预测的。最近的研究指出，不确定性的减少是个体形成行为承诺的关键原因之一，但并没有提出这种情况发生的机制。通过详细阐述归因的作用（个体认为是另一个个体行为的原因），我探索了一种认知机制，通过这种机制，行为者可以减少不确定性和承诺的形成。我提出了一个理论论点，具体说明了行为者如何形成承诺，以应对不同类型交换中固有的不同程度的不确定性。我认为，不确定性的水平和伴侣的行为决定了伴侣行为原因的归因，这反过来又直接影响了行动者对伴侣的信任程度。这种可信赖程度直接影响行为承诺的形成程度和类型。具体而言，本文检验了四个假设：1)交换类型和伙伴行为决定了归因的产生；2)归因和伙伴行为影响可信赖性的感知水平；3)行为的规范性直接影响承诺的类型和水平（以重复交换衡量）；4)可信赖性的感知水平直接影响承诺的水平（以新型交换的投资衡量）。我将在实验环境中验证这四个预测。将招募大约150名受试者参与五种条件中的一种。受试者将使用斯坦福大学专门为这项研究开发的计算机化交换计划做出决定。承诺的行为测量将在每次交换中收集。态度测量（包括归因、可信度感知和不确定性）将在整个实验的三个时间点进行测量。本论文项目的智力优势在于，它扩展了当前关于多种类型交换环境（约束性协商、非约束性协商和互惠交换）中的承诺形成、不确定性降低和可信度的理论和研究。通过这项研究，我们可以了解交换关系如何从以契约、不信任、高度不确定性和风险为特征的远距离、一臂之遥的联系，到以信任为特征的嵌入式关系，在各种不确定性降低的情况下进行广泛的重复交换。目前，大多数关于嵌入关系（经济交易位于社会关系中的概念）的工作都集中在嵌入性的含义上，很少涉及这些关系实际上是如何出现的。考虑到嵌入性在组织和经济的日常运作中的重要性，理解这些关系如何形成以及如何维持是至关重要的。这样的理解可能会对学者如何调查组织关系（特别是长期伙伴关系、合资企业和其他协作任务）以及从业者如何建议组织和个人如何维持和改善组织内部（如员工忠诚度和凝聚力）以及与其他组织的关系产生重大影响

Social scientists have observed that individuals often repeatedly choose to interact with the same partners even at some cost; this behavior is known to sociologists as commitment formation. The source of commitment formation has been debated among the many disciplines of the social sciences. In large part, the research has been primarily concerned with behavioral commitment, described as individuals repeatedly interacting with the same partner. Although, the rational choice perspective would indicate behavioral commitments should not form, unless there are high search costs, experimental and field studies indicate that behavioral commitment happens much more frequently than the rational choice perspective would predict. Recent work has pointed to uncertainty reduction as one of the key reasons why individuals form behavioral commitments, but does not pose a mechanism by which this occurs. By elaborating on the role of attributions (what individuals perceive as the cause of another individual's behavior), I explore a cognitive mechanism by which actors reduce uncertainty and commitments form. I develop a theoretical argument that specifies how actors form commitments in response to different levels of uncertainty inherent in different types of exchange. I argue that the level of uncertainty and the behavior of a partner condition the attribution of the cause of the partner's behavior, which in turn has a direct impact on the level of trustworthiness the actor perceives in her partner. This level of perceived trustworthiness directly affects the level and type of behavioral commitment formed. Specifically, this dissertation tests four hypotheses: 1) type of exchange and partner behavior condition the attribution made 2) the attribution and the behavior of the partner affect the perceived level of trustworthiness 3) the normative nature of the behavior directly affects the type and level of commitment (measured as repeat exchange) and 4) the perceived level of trustworthiness directly affects the level of commitment (measured as investment in a new type of exchange). I will test these four predictions in an experimental setting. Approximately 150 subjects will be recruited to participate in one of five conditions. Subjects will make decisions using a computerized exchange program that is being developed specifically for this research at Stanford University. Behavioral measures of commitment will be collected during each exchange. Attitudinal measures (including attributions, perceptions of trustworthiness, and uncertainty) will be measured at three time points through out the experiment.The intellectual merit of this dissertation project is that it extends current theories and research on commitment formation, uncertainty reduction and trustworthiness in multiple types of exchange settings (binding negotiated, non-binding negotiated and reciprocal exchange). Through this research we can gain an understanding of the micro processes specifying how exchange relationships go from being distant, arm's-length ties, characterized by contracts, distrust, high uncertainty and risk, to embedded relationships, characterized by trust, extensive repeat exchanges in a variety of settings with reduced uncertainty. Currently a majority of the work on embedded relationships (the concept that economic transactions are situated in social relationships) focuses on the implications of embeddedness, rarely addressing how these relationships actually emerge. Considering the importance of embeddedness in the day-to-day functioning of organizations and the economy it is critical to understand how these relationships form and how they are maintained. Such an understanding may have a significant impact on how scholars investigate organizational relationships (especially long-term partnerships, joint ventures and other collaborative tasks) as well as how practitioners advise organizations and individuals on how to maintain and improve relationships both within their organizations (such as employee loyalty, and cohesion) and with other organizations