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

Scott V. Savage ^a

Monica M. Whitham ^b

^{^a}University of Houston, USA

^{^b}Oklahoma State University, USA

Advances In Group Processes, Volume 41

ISBN: 978-1-83608-701-4, eISBN: 978-1-83608-700-7

Publication date: 6 December 2024

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Citation

Savage, S.V. and Whitham, M.M. (2024), "Thanks, but No Thanks: How Information About the Refusal (and Acceptance) of Offers Affects How People Distribute Benefits in a Reciprocal Exchange Network* ", Thye, S.R., Kalkhoff, W. and Lawler, E.J. (Ed.) Advances In Group Processes, Volume 41 (Advances in Group Processes, Vol. 41), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 101-121. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0882-614520240000041005

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited