RESPONSES TO SOCIAL-EXCHANGE AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN NETWORKS

Various theoretical accounts of power in social exchange networks have emerged in recent years. We use a new experimental setting to test as sumptions that appear to be implicit in all network exchange theories of power: Actors in exchange networks increase their demands following social exchange and concede more resources when excluded. We also tes ted for the relative impact of inclusion versus exclusion and differen tial responses to multiple exchange partners given exchange with just one of them. We observed that the tendency to concede following exclus ion was significantly greater than the tendency to raise demands follo wing an exchange. Furthermore, when an actor had multiple potential ex change partners, the clear tendency was to demand more from those with whom exchange just occurred, but not from those excluded. These findi ngs are discussed in view of current theories of exchange and commitme nt.