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on Network Economics |
| By: | Giovanna d’Adda; Donja Darai; Roberto A. Weber |
| Abstract: | We study whether leaders influence the unethical conduct of followers. To avoid selection issues present in natural environments, we use a laboratory experiment in which we form groups and assign leadership roles at random. We study an environment in which groups compete, with dishonest behavior enhancing group earnings to the detriment of social welfare. We vary, by treatment, two instruments through which leaders can influence follower conduct—prominent statements to the group and the allocation of monetary incentives. In general, the presence of active group leaders gives rise to significantly more dishonest behavior. Moreover, appointing leaders who are likely to have acted dishonestly in a preliminary stage of the experiment yields groups with significantly more unethical conduct. The analysis of leaders’ strategies reveals that leaders’ statements have a stronger effect on follower behavior than the ability to distribute financial rewards, and that leaders’ propensity to act dishonestly correlates with their use of statements or incentives as a means for encouraging dishonest follower conduct. |
| Keywords: | Leadership, ethics, dishonesty, experiment |
| JEL: | C92 C72 D03 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:167&r=all |
| By: | Chow, Yuen Leng; Ong, Seow-Eng |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we aim to analyze the importance of traditional social networks in selling real estate. In recent years, the use of various social networking sites like FaceBook, LinkedIn is ubiquitous, to the extent that these social networking sites are now commonly used as a tool by real estate brokers to expand and maintain their client network. However, the use of social networks as a link to establish business opportunities is not new. In a business context, business associations, university alumnus gatherings, cultural associations, country clubs, etc., are avenues where business contacts can be formed. Thus, in this paper we are interested in exploring the question of whether a more 'traditional' social network has an impact on a real estate broker's sale performance. More specifically, we are interested to see whether 'culture' affects sales performance.In the extant literature, there is a rich literature on real estate brokerage that analyzes agent's performance, listing and selling of the properties through the multiple listing services, the impact of incentives (commission) on agent's performance, and the asymmetric problem for a property sold by owners and for a property sold by agents. There are also papers that analyse, from an information angle, the impact of the use of internet on sales performance. In this paper, we look into the question of whether real estate brokers close more deals with people of their own cultural background. We intend to analyse this question by employing both a regression and probit model to examine the significance of a common cultural background on a real estate broker's sale performance. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2013_164&r=all |
| By: | Anaïs Périlleux; Ariane Szafarz |
| Abstract: | How do women leaders such as board members and top managers influence the social performance of organizations? This paper addresses the issue by exploiting a unique database released by a Senegalese network of 36 financial cooperatives sharing identical governance characteristics and placed under the authority of a central union. We scrutinize the loan-granting decisions, made jointly by the locally elected board and the delegated top manager, whose career is supervised by the central union. Our findings are threefold. First, female-dominated boards favor social orientation in loan-granting. Second, female top managers are not necessarily more socially oriented than their male colleagues. Instead, they tend to align their loan-granting strategy with the preferences of the democratically elected board members. Third, the central union tends to assign male managers to cooperatives with female-dominated boards, probably to curb the social orientation of these boards. Overall, gender is a key factor in considering social performance, but gender interactions appear far more complex than previously thought. |
| Keywords: | Gender; Leadership; Board; Microfinance; Financial Cooperative; Senegal |
| JEL: | G20 J54 O16 G34 O55 L31 |
| Date: | 2014–07–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/172618&r=all |
| By: | Rokhaya Dieye (Department of Economics, Université Laval); Habiba Djebbari (Department of Economics, Université Laval); Felipe Barrera-Osorio (Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | When one’s treatment status affects the outcomes of others, experimental data are not sufficient to identify a treatment causal impact. In order to account for peer effects in program response, we use a social network model. We estimate and validate the model on experimental data collected for the evaluation of a scholarship program in Colombia. By design, randomization is at the student-level. Friendship data reveals that treated and untreated students interact together. Besides providing evidence of peer effects in schooling, we find that ignoring peer effects would have led us to overstate the program actual impact. |
| Keywords: | Education, social network, impact evaluation |
| JEL: | C31 C93 I22 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aim:wpaimx:1435&r=all |