Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics最新文献

Change in the work context is an important characteristic of product-innovating firms, and the innovation's profitability often depends on the workers’ adaptive capability to cope with change. Personality traits shape the individual adaptive capability. Nevertheless, the current economic recruitment literature does not discuss personality trait-oriented recruitment in product-innovating firms. We investigate whether recruiters in product-innovating firms prefer mid-qualified job applicants with certain Big Five personality traits. We conduct a discrete choice experiment among 799 firms in Germany and use mixed logit models to estimate the heterogeneous personality preferences of recruiters by distinguishing between firms performing i) radical and ii) incremental product innovations. We find that recruiters prefer more emotionally stable workers regardless of the firm's innovation type. However, recruiters from firms engaging in radical innovations also prefer more conscientious applicants. Our findings have practical implications for firms, applicants and policy makers designing training curricula, because we show that recruiters from product-innovating firms consider personality trait-oriented recruitment not only for high-qualified workers but also for mid-qualified workers.

Mobbing causes severe damages to the victims and is a prime example of antisocial coordination. Using the ‘mobbing game’ by Abbink and Doğan (2019), we investigate the role of communication and incremental incentives on mobbing in a laboratory experiment. Doing so, we vary the degree of strategic vs. social communication on the one hand and the pecuniary incentives of repeatedly bullying a certain victim on the other hand. Results indicate that incremental incentives increase nomination rates (i.e., attempts to mob another player) and mobbing rates (i.e., successful group coordination to reduce payoffs of one player). In contrast, communication decreases nomination rates without having significant effect on mobbing rates. Further, communication analysis indicates our approach to eliminate strategic communication was successful and can be applied in other setups.

We investigate how subjective and objective assessment of COVID-19 risks affect preferences toward working from home (WFH) and whether informing workers about the level of exposure to contagion in their occupation affects these preferences. In the summer of 2021, we conducted a discrete choice experiment combined with an information provision experiment with more than 11 000 workers in Poland. Estimating willingness to pay for WFH, we find that, on average, workers' are willing to give up 3.2%, 95% CI [2.8%; 3.6%] of earnings for such an option. The subjective assessment of COVID-19 risk matters as workers who perceive COVID-19 as a threat are willing to sacrifice a higher share of earnings for WFH than those who do not (4.1%, vs. 1.3% [p<0.00]). However, the preferences toward WFH differ to a smaller extent between workers in occupations with high or low exposure to COVID-19 [3.8% vs. 2.7%, p=0.01]. Informing workers about occupational exposure to contagion generally does not affect preferences toward WFH.

We use a lab-in-the-field experiment to study identity preferences, other-regarding beliefs, and conflict behavior among the Fulani and Malinke in Guinea, Sub-Saharan Africa. In a hawk-dove game, we explore the existence of out-group hostility and ingroup cooperation compared to the baseline where pairs are uninformed of each other's region of origin. We observe that ethnic identity, especially among the Malinke, encourages loss aversion in situations where negative earnings are possible. Identitydriven beliefs, i.e. expectations of others, lead to either reciprocity among homogeneous pairs or materialism in diverse pairs. Using complementary survey data, we also find that high out-group trust and less linguistic diversity are correlated with conflict avoidance.

This study explored the relationships between acute psychosocial stress, hormones, probability and delay discounting, and time perspective in men and women. Study participants were 120 (60 male, 60 female) young adults. Half of them underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) and half served as controls. Saliva samples were collected from all participants and concentrations of testosterone and cortisol were measured. Risk taking and impulsivity were assessed with a probability discounting and a delay discounting task, respectively. Participants filled out several questionnaires, including the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI). The TSST was associated with an increase in salivary cortisol concentrations in males and females, and with an increase in testosterone in males, but not in females. Variation in probability discounting was predicted by changes in testosterone (the higher the testosterone the greater the risk-taking) and by the ZTPI, whereas variation in delay discounting scores was not predicted by hormones, the ZTPI, or other variables. Our study contributes to research on psychosocial stress, hormones, and decision-making by reporting, for the first time, an association between stress-induced changes in testosterone and economic risk-taking. Our study also suggests that risk-taking and impulsivity are different processes associated with different psychological and physiological mechanisms.

This study delves into the relationship between spousal self-employment and life satisfaction, specifically emphasizing the potential moderating effects of the perceived significance of family, leisure, and work. Relationships where both partners are self-employed were also examined. Data from Wave 7 of the World Value Survey (2017–2022) gathered from respondents across 60 nations were analysed by running regression analysis. The results revealed that a high perceived value placed on family, leisure time, and work is associated with lower life satisfaction among spouse-self-employed individuals. Moreover, it was found that life satisfaction is significantly lower when both partners are self-employed. These insights present pivotal implications for policymakers and the self-employed community at large.

In the growing literature connecting parents-child economic decision-making, it remains unclear whether children’s competitive performance is affected by their guardian’s presence. We conducted a field experiment in which over 150 children were assigned to one of three tasks (i.e., trivia, a speed stacking game, or jumping a rope) and then chose to compete. Simultaneously, we elicited the guardians’ beliefs about their child’s willingness to compete in the three tasks and their expected performance. We employed a randomized encouragement design, asking guardians to remain close and support their child during the task or to remain distant. We find a positive correlation between the guardians’ presence and better performance in the speed stacking game (but not in the other tasks). Mothers’ beliefs about competitive behavior and performance across tasks are more correlated than fathers’ beliefs. Mixed-sex pairs (i.e., girls with a male guardian and boys with a female guardian) are more likely to compete than same-sex pairs.

This paper examines the impact of language on firms’ cross-listing decisions. Utilising the survival analysis on data from 28,602 firms in 44 countries, we hypothesise and find that firms whose operational languages do not grammatically distinguish the future from the present are more likely to cross-list as its first listing destination. After integrating crucial controls, adding various fixed effects, and conducting extensive robustness checks, this relationship remains consistent. Our additional analysis reveals that speakers of such languages on average exhibit stronger long-term orientated thinking, thus predisposing them to benefit from stringent regulations, reduced capital cost, and broader investor base, especially in countries with robust governance. This observation further supports the ‘bonding theory’ and ‘linguistic relativity theory’. Collectively, our research highlights the importance of the linguistic dimension in driving corporate financial decisions.

This paper studies the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on risk and time preferences. Using a longitudinal dataset from a survey of cab drivers in Lima (Peru), we document a significant increase in risk tolerance and patience. The changes are heterogeneous and monotonic by age: older cohorts become more risk-taking while younger ones become more patient. Our findings suggest that the pandemic could have affected individuals’ behavior and socioeconomic outcomes via another channel, namely, changes in economic preferences.