Elements of a Script for Friendship in Transactions

Abstract

Social norms constrain people's behaviors in transactions, but such norms are rarely investigated. Script theory provides a coherent, holistic structure for understanding socially mediated behaviors. This study proposes terms of a script for the pricing behavior of transactors when friendship is considered. The script generates testable hypotheses, which are studied in three lab-based experiments. Vignette studies considered the effect of friendship on two-party transactions and revealed consistent behaviors. Without discussion, subjects exhibit consistent agreement for what constitutes appropriate pricing for friends and for strangers in different contexts: when pricing a variety of commodities for a transaction, when acting as agents for a friend or a stranger, and when observing others engaged in such transactions.