6Other‐regarding Behavior: Fairness, Reciprocity, and Trust
Gary E. Bolton1 and Yefen Chen2
1 Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA
2 School of Economics and Management, Beihang University, Beijing, China
6.1 Introduction
6.1.1 What Is Other‐regarding Behavior?
“Other‐regarding behavior” refers to actions undertaken to establish, maintain, or adjust one’s relationship with others. Contributing resources for the good, reciprocating an act of kindness, and working to develop a reputation for trustworthiness are all examples of other‐regarding behavior. The behavioral operations literature on other‐regarding behavior is at present small but growing. And we can expect it to continue to grow because relationships, often through contracts, play an important role in operations management. This chapter provides a gateway guide to the very large body of research on other‐regarding behavior in the behavioral economics literature. It is not a comprehensive review; for that, see Cooper and Kagel’s (2016) excellent treatment. Here we overview the basic concepts and point to classic and current empirical and theoretical findings of interest to behavioral operations researchers. This literature grew largely out of the game theory literature, and it makes a good deal of use of game theoretic concepts. See Steve Leider’s chapter, this volume, for an overview. For examples of social preferences in operations management research, see Kayut Chen’s ...
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