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UC research looks at peoples’ responses to generous actions

April 8, 2013

A University of Canterbury (UC) researcher is investigating how people respond to self-serving generosity in areas such as the hospitality industry.

UC economics and finance masters student Daniel Woods has run an economic experiment in which student participants are paid in cash, based on their decisions.

His research, supervised by Associate Professor Maro¹ Servátka, studied whether people cared if generous actions towards them were self-serving or completely selfless.

“Imagine being in a country with a tipping culture and the waiter is being exceptionally nice, providing top service and showing genuine interest in his customers,’’ Woods said.

“But what if the only reason he was doing it was an attempt to receive a much higher tip. How do people decide to reward his actions more than a normal tip? Or should the waiter be tipped at the going rate? Were his actions more beneficial to the customers or for himself? Or do people make tipping decisions based on the overall dining experience?

 “Reciprocity generally results in those on the receiving end being more inclined to return the favour in kind. Reciprocity is an important economic phenomenon as it can help to explain people’s behaviour such as in wage determination, trade and decision-making.

“A self-serving policy might reveal intent behind an action in some situations, which is important in understanding reciprocal behaviour.

“Previous literature has not made predictions on how self-serving generosity works out. This research proposes that someone being generous in a self-serving way will result in the person on the receiving end being less reciprocal in return.’’

Woods and Professor Servátka ran experiments at UC’s New Zealand Experimental Economics Laboratory by paying students cash for decisions they and others made. The economic experiments helped them to explore issues that could not be found easily from surveys or in real life economic situations.

By testing an economic theory in a controlled laboratory environment they were able to better understand economic phenomena. The ultimate goal is to help people, businesses and governments make better economic decisions.

“By analysing participants’ choices we found that no matter how self-serving a generous offer may be it does not impact reciprocal behaviour. Participants perceived self-serving offers as being less generous, but this did not affect their response.

“They knew generous offers were self-serving, but it did not matter to them. We are looking at extending our study that will examine reciprocal responses in cases where self-serving generous actions are clearly revealed. We believe people will not respond positively but we need to research further,’’ Woods said.

For further information contact Daniel Woods on 0276 969600 or UC media consultant Kip Brook on 0275 030168

Tags: kindness