Immaterial and monetary gifts in economic transactions. Evidence from the field

Michael Kirchler and Stefan Palan ()

Working Papers from Faculty of Economics and Statistics, Universität Innsbruck

Abstract: Reciprocation of monetary gifts is well-understood in economics. In contrast, there is little research on reciprocal behavior following immaterial gifts like compliments. We narrow this gap and investigate how employees reciprocate after receiving immaterial gifts and material gifts over time. We purchase (1) ice cream from fast food restaurants, and (2) durum doner, a common lunch snack, from independent vendors. Prior to the food's preparation, we either compliment or tip the salesperson. We find that salespersons recip- rocate compliments with higher product weight than in a control treatment. Importantly, this reciprocal behavior following immaterial gifts grows over repeated transactions. Tips, in contrast, have a stronger level effect which does not change over time.

Keywords: gift exchange; reciprocity; natural field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D03 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2016-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-cbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Immaterial and monetary gifts in economic transactions: evidence from the field (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inn:wpaper:2016-12

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