Doctoral Dissertation Research: Reciprocity and Perceived Sincerity in Organizational Workgroups

康奈尔大学这项研究挑战了直接互惠的主流解释所基于的行为假设。通过解决人类区分行为和意图的能力，本研究探讨了一个人的意愿回报帮助（或“亲社会”）行为如何可能被感知到的帮助行为是真诚的调节。也就是说，是出于利他的动机。反过来，这种感知又被假设取决于帮助行为本身或帮助行为者的两个外生因素：接受者的亲社会价值观以及规范环境，特别是行为发生时的集体主义程度。与之前在实验室进行的亲社会性研究相反，原始调查和访谈数据将从跨国技术组织的跨国样本中收集，以测试项目的假设。更广泛的影响。本研究的结果应引起社会学、管理学、心理学的学者，以及管理和组织领域的实践者的兴趣。在挑战行动重要而非意图的观点时，本研究通过假设情境因素如何对合作产生切实的影响，为互惠的文献引入了一种独特的社会学视角。该研究还表明了集体主义工作小组的一个反直觉特性：虽然集体主义确实可能促进亲社会行为，但它也可能通过影响亲社会行为的感知方式来破坏互惠。这对组织的实际意义是，筛选求职者的利他主义社会偏好可能比依赖集体主义规范的亲社会行为更有效地提高工作效率。

SES-1030528Michael MacyMatthew HoffbergCornell UniversityThe research challenges the behavioral assumptions on which predominant explanations of direct reciprocity are based. By addressing the human ability to differentiate between behavior and intentions, this study investigates how one's willingness to reciprocate helping (or "prosocial") behavior may be moderated by the perception that the helping behavior was sincere ? that is, motivated by altruistic intentions. This perception, in turn, is hypothesized to depend on two factors exogenous to the helping behavior itself or to the actor who is helping: the prosocial values of the recipient as well as the normative environment, specifically the degree of collectivism, in which the behavior occurs. In contrast to previous research on prosociality conducted in the lab, original survey and interview data will be collected from a cross-national sample of a multinational technology organization to test the project's hypotheses. Broader Impacts. Results from this study should be of interest to academic scholars in sociology, management, and psychology, as well as practitioners in the management and organizations field. In challenging the view that actions matter, not intentions, this study introduces a uniquely sociological perspective to the literature on reciprocity by positing how contextual factors have tangible consequences for cooperation. The study also suggests a counter-intuitive property of collectivist workgroups: while collectivism may indeed promote prosocial behavior, it may also undermine reciprocity by affecting how prosocial behavior is perceived. The practical implication for organizations is that screening job candidates for altruistic social preferences may be more effective for improving workgroup productivity than relying on collectivist norms for prosocial behavior.