The Effects of Age, Gender, and Economic Status on Generosity in the Presence of Exchange: A Pilot Study

Abstract

In this field experiment, a confederate asked participants to provide a quarter for the confederate to make a telephone call. In the experimental condition, based on the concept of exchange, the confederate offered participants twenty-five pennies for the quarter. The researchers found that there was a significant difference in whether or not the confederate offered the pennies. Eighty-five percent of the participants complied when offered the pennies, while only 35 percent complied without the offer of exchange. Gender was not a factor. Participants over sixty-years-old complied more often than any other age group. Economic status was a factor in that those in the middle range tended to comply more often than those at either the low end or the upper end.

Keywords:

• Compliance
• Exchange
• Wariness
• Age

The authors wish to express their appreciation to Barbara Exum, Victor Ferrell, Charles Bradford, and Michael Gazlay for their assistance in data collection in this study.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kelli Jones

Kelli Jones (PhD, Southern Illinois University, 1971) is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Andrea Doughty

Andrea Doughty (PhD, Southern Illinois University, 1971) is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Mark Hickson

Mark Hickson III (PhD, Southern Illinois University, 1971) is a professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.