HUMAN NATURE, COMMUNICATION AND TRUST

ABSTRACT ** :  The facts that people can sometimes commit to fulfill promises even when there are no binding penalties and that kind and trusting acts are often reciprocated by trustworthy ones make possible forms of group action that might be ruled out in a hypothetical world of perfectly opportunistic individuals. I discuss some new experiments with a modified Berg, Dickhaut and McCabe (1995) ' trust game' that provide evidence that most subjects adhere to non-binding agreements, that many are prepared to rely on trust rather than use binding but moderately costly contracts, that the possibility of exchanging words rather than mere numerical proposals enhances trusting and trustworthiness, and that subjects are drawn to fair and efficient exchanges despite the self-interest model's prediction of outcomes more favorable to first-movers.     

A Proposed Infrastructural Model for the Establishment of Organizational Ethical Systems

We define ethical system infrastructure as being composed of three major factors – means, motivation, and opportunity. Means are defined as organizational rules, policies, and procedures. Motivation focuses upon the values and the interests being pursued by the position occupant and the organizational value system, while opportunity is discussed in terms of the environment in which the dilemma occurs, proposing that position in the hierarchy presents its own unique set of ethical dilemmas. Ethical breeches are discussed in terms of the interactional processes among means, motivation, and opportunity. Finally, a sequential process is suggested to use the infrastructural components to institutionalize organizational ethics training and subsequent behavior.     

Governors' Party Affiliation and Unions

Employing a regression discontinuity (RD) approach on gubernatorial elections in the United States over the last three decades, this paper investigates the causal effects of governors' party affiliation (Democrat versus Republican) on unionization of workers, and unionized workers' working hours and earnings. Surprisingly, we find no significant impact from the party affiliation of governors on union membership and union workers' labor‐market outcomes.     

Consumer responses to generic products

Plain-label generic products consisting of food and household staples and cigarettes have made significant inroads into the market shares previously held by the national brands of manufacturers and the private brands of wholesalers and retailers. Although the small number of published research studies analyzing purchasers of generic products have described the user as a member of an upscale professional, college-educated household, the research reported in this paper analyzed both demographic and lifestyle characteristics of generic users, non-users, and aware nonusers. Purchase behavior, product evaluation variation, and purchase probabilities for the three segments are examined. Acceptance of generic products appears to adversely affect the sales of national brands more than private brands, since most generic product purchasers had previously purchased national brands.     

The interrelationship between price and output decisions and investment decisions: Microfoundations and aggregate implications

This paper develops a model of firm behavior in which both price and output decisions and investment decisions are made. The model permits an analysis of the dynamics of inventory and capital accumulation on price and output behavior. There are two main results: (1) Short-run price and output levels will differ from long-run levels as desired stocks of inventory and capital diverge from actual levels. (2) The size of the elasticities of price and output to changes in demand and cost variables depends on the speed with which gaps between desired and actual stocks are closed through investment.     

Effective selling approaches to buyers' objections

Approaches for responding to an industrial buyer's indecision and price objections were uncovered. When an industrial buyer refuses to make a purchase decision or objects to price, an effective salesperson will seek understanding of the buyer's indecision, consciously look for common underlying objections, address the buyer's specific concern, and establish a decision deadline for the buyer.