Preference Information and Social Value Orientations as Offerer's Intention in Ultimatum Bargaining

Abstract

This study examines the effects of offerers' intentionality and social value orientations on respondents' reactions to unequal small offers in ultimatum bargaining with poker chips. Eighty-seven Japanese university students were assigned to the respondent role and faced chip offers (equivalent to 200 yen for the respondent, 1,800 yen for the offerer) by the hypothetical offerer in the experiment. The chip offer was turned into cash according to the bargaining outcome but the monetary value of a chip differed between the players. Offerers' intentionality was manipulated depending on whether the offerers had information on the monetary value of a chip for the respondent or not. Offerers' social value orientations were altered by the patterns of chip options. Results reveal that the respondents rated their acceptance of intentional small offers as less likely than with unintentional ones, and also tended to reject the unequal offers made by competitors more than individualists. Furthermore, the respondents were less willing to accept an unequal monetary offer (but an equal offer in chips) with intention than one without intention when the offerer was seemingly a cooperator. The results suggest that the intention of offerers' behavior is assessed in terms of their intentionality and social motives.