Thanks, but No Thanks: How Information About the Refusal (and Acceptance) of Offers Affects How People Distribute Benefits in a Reciprocal Exchange Network.

Purpose: We investigate how information about the refusal and acceptance of offered resources affects the distribution of benefits to self and others in reciprocal exchanges. We distinguish contexts that allow individuals to know whether offered benefits were accepted or refused from contexts that do not. In the process, we also examine how the perceived probability of possible refusal and the actual experience of refusal affect the distribution of benefits. Methodology: We conducted a controlled laboratory experiment. Findings: Results show people give more when the context allows them to discern whether offers were accepted or refused, but having information about the structure of the network, which may increase the perceived probability of overt rejection, erases this effect. Results also show that in contrast to contexts that inform individuals about the acceptance or refusal of offers, the actual experience of being refused depresses giving. Limitations and implications: This study examines giving behaviors in one specific network arrangement, leaving unanswered whether the findings reported here hold for larger, more complex networks. Future work should also examine how gender may affect giving behaviors in these contexts, with a particular focus on how it might affect responses to experiencing refusal. Originality: Refusal in reciprocity has been undertheorized and methodologically excluded from exchange studies. We acknowledge that offering a resource does not mean one will accept it and investigate how uncertainty about whether an offered resource will be accepted or refused affects how people distribute resources. We also consider and experimentally test how the perceived probability and the actual experience of being overtly refused affect the distribution of resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]