Diekmann, Andreas; Jann, Ben; Przepiorka, Wojtek; Wehrli, Stefan (2014). Reputation Formation and the Evolution of Cooperation in Anonymous Online Markets. American Sociological Review, 79(1), pp. 65-85. 10.1177/0003122413512316
|
Text
diekmann_et_al_2013_asr_forthcoming.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (427kB) | Preview |
|
![[img]](https://boris.unibe.ch/style/images/fileicons/text.png) |
Text
10.1177_0003122413512316.pdf - Published Version Restricted to registered users only Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (713kB) |
|
![[img]](https://boris.unibe.ch/style/images/fileicons/archive.png) |
Archive (Data and analysis scripts)
reputation.zip - Supplemental Material Available under License BORIS Standard License. Download (171MB) |
Theoretical propositions stressing the importance of trust, reciprocity, and reputation for cooperation in social exchange relations are deeply rooted in classical sociological thought. Today’s online markets provide a unique opportunity to test these theories using unobtrusive data. Our study investigates the mechanisms promoting cooperation in an online-auction market where most transactions can be conceived as one-time-only exchanges. We first give a systematic account of the theoretical arguments explaining the process of cooperative transactions. Then, using a large dataset comprising 14,627 mobile phone auctions and 339,517 DVD auctions, we test key hypotheses about the effects of traders’ reputations on auction outcomes and traders’ motives for leaving feedback. Our statistical analyses show that sellers with better reputations have higher sales and obtain higher prices. Furthermore, we observe a high rate of participation in the feedback system, which is largely consistent with strong reciprocity—a predisposition to unconditionally reward (or punish) one’s interaction partner’s cooperation (or defection)—and altruism—a predisposition to increase one’s own utility by elevating an interaction partner’s utility. Our study demonstrates how strong reciprocity and altruism can mitigate the free-rider problem in the feedback system to create reputational incentives for mutually beneficial online trade.
Item Type: |
Journal Article (Original Article) |
|---|---|
Division/Institute: |
03 Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Institute of Sociology |
UniBE Contributor: |
Jann, Ben |
Subjects: |
300 Social sciences, sociology & anthropology |
ISSN: |
0003-1224 |
Submitter: |
Ben Jann |
Date Deposited: |
02 Jul 2014 10:25 |
Last Modified: |
05 Dec 2022 14:32 |
Publisher DOI: |
10.1177/0003122413512316 |
BORIS DOI: |
10.7892/boris.48532 |
URI: |
https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/48532 |
Actions (login required)
 |
Edit item |