Doctoral Dissertation Research: Attribution and Commitment in Different Types of Exchange

博士论文研究：不同类型交换中的归因与承诺

• 批准号: 0503156
• 负责人: Karen Cook
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Stanford University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-03-15 至 2007-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0503156&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Attribution; Commitment

Social scientists have observed that individuals often repeatedly choose to interact with the same partners even at some cost; this behavior is known to sociologists as commitment formation. The source of commitment formation has been debated among the many disciplines of the social sciences. In large part, the research has been primarily concerned with behavioral commitment, described as individuals repeatedly interacting with the same partner. Although, the rational choice perspective would indicate behavioral commitments should not form, unless there are high search costs, experimental and field studies indicate that behavioral commitment happens much more frequently than the rational choice perspective would predict. Recent work has pointed to uncertainty reduction as one of the key reasons why individuals form behavioral commitments, but does not pose a mechanism by which this occurs. By elaborating on the role of attributions (what individuals perceive as the cause of another individual's behavior), I explore a cognitive mechanism by which actors reduce uncertainty and commitments form. I develop a theoretical argument that specifies how actors form commitments in response to different levels of uncertainty inherent in different types of exchange. I argue that the level of uncertainty and the behavior of a partner condition the attribution of the cause of the partner's behavior, which in turn has a direct impact on the level of trustworthiness the actor perceives in her partner. This level of perceived trustworthiness directly affects the level and type of behavioral commitment formed. Specifically, this dissertation tests four hypotheses: 1) type of exchange and partner behavior condition the attribution made 2) the attribution and the behavior of the partner affect the perceived level of trustworthiness 3) the normative nature of the behavior directly affects the type and level of commitment (measured as repeat exchange) and 4) the perceived level of trustworthiness directly affects the level of commitment (measured as investment in a new type of exchange). I will test these four predictions in an experimental setting. Approximately 150 subjects will be recruited to participate in one of five conditions. Subjects will make decisions using a computerized exchange program that is being developed specifically for this research at Stanford University. Behavioral measures of commitment will be collected during each exchange. Attitudinal measures (including attributions, perceptions of trustworthiness, and uncertainty) will be measured at three time points through out the experiment.The intellectual merit of this dissertation project is that it extends current theories and research on commitment formation, uncertainty reduction and trustworthiness in multiple types of exchange settings (binding negotiated, non-binding negotiated and reciprocal exchange). Through this research we can gain an understanding of the micro processes specifying how exchange relationships go from being distant, arm's-length ties, characterized by contracts, distrust, high uncertainty and risk, to embedded relationships, characterized by trust, extensive repeat exchanges in a variety of settings with reduced uncertainty. Currently a majority of the work on embedded relationships (the concept that economic transactions are situated in social relationships) focuses on the implications of embeddedness, rarely addressing how these relationships actually emerge. Considering the importance of embeddedness in the day-to-day functioning of organizations and the economy it is critical to understand how these relationships form and how they are maintained. Such an understanding may have a significant impact on how scholars investigate organizational relationships (especially long-term partnerships, joint ventures and other collaborative tasks) as well as how practitioners advise organizations and individuals on how to maintain and improve relationships both within their organizations (such as employee loyalty, and cohesion) and with other organizations

社会科学家观察到，即使以某种代价，个人通常会反复选择与同一伴侣互动。社会学家将这种行为称为承诺形成。 在社会科学的许多学科中，承诺形成的来源一直在辩论。 在很大程度上，这项研究主要与行为承诺有关，被描述为个人反复与同一伴侣互动。 虽然，理性选择的观点将表明行为承诺不应形成，除非搜索成本很高，否则实验和现场研究表明，行为承诺的发生频率要比理性选择的观点预测的要频繁。 最近的工作指出，不确定性降低是个人形成行为承诺的关键原因之一，但并不构成发生这种情况的机制。 通过阐述归因的作用（个人认为是另一个人行为的原因），我探索了一种认知机制，参与者通过这种机制减少了不确定性和承诺形式。 我开发了一个理论上的论点，该论点指定了参与者如何响应不同类型交换中固有的不同级别的不确定性级别的承诺。 我认为，不确定性的水平和伴侣条件的行为是伴侣行为原因的归因，这反过来又对演员对伴侣的信任程度有直接影响。 这种感知到的信任度直接影响形成的行为承诺的水平和类型。 具体而言，本论文测试四个假设：1）交换类型和伴侣行为条件的归因2）归因和行为会影响伴侣的行为影响可信赖的感知水平3）行为的规范性质直接影响承诺的类型和水平会影响承诺的感知水平（4）投资水平的态度（均为新的投资水平）（均为新的投资水平）（一定程度上）。 我将在实验环境中测试这四个预测。 将招募大约150名受试者参加五个条件之一。 受试者将使用计算机化交换计划做出决定，该计划是在斯坦福大学专门为这项研究开发的。 每次交换期间将收集承诺的行为度量。 态度措施（包括归因，对可信赖性和不确定性的看法）将在三个时间点进行衡量。该论文项目的智力优点在于，它扩展了当前的理论和对承诺形成的理论和研究，不确定性降低不确定性降低和在多种类型的交换设置中进行了交换，并交换了交换，而不是交换，并交换了交换，并获得了不断增长的和交流，并获得了交流和交流。 通过这项研究，我们可以了解微观过程，这些流程说明了交换关系如何从遥远的，长度的联系（以合同，不信任，高不确定性和风险为特征）到嵌入的关系，以信任为特征，在各种环境中以降低的不确定性降低。 目前，大多数关于嵌入关系的工作（经济交易位于社会关系中的概念）都集中在嵌入性的含义上，很少解决这些关系的实际出现。 考虑到嵌入在组织的日常运作和经济功能中的重要性，了解这些关系如何形成以及如何维护它们至关重要。这种理解可能会对学者如何调查组织关系（尤其是长期合作伙伴关系，合资企业和其他协作任务）以及从业者如何向组织和个人提供如何维持和改善组织内部（例如员工忠诚度和凝聚力）以及与其他组织中的关系的建议，以及