The Behaviour of Corporate Actors: How Much Can We Learn from the Experimental Literature?

Abstract

Much of socially relevant behaviour does not originate in isolated individuals. It is embedded in institutional arrangements. Embeddedness can be so pronounced that outsiders no longer focus on judgement and decision making of individuals contributing to the course of action. Instead they ascribe the behaviour to the institution, to which they refer as a corporate actor. This social practice makes it meaningful to compare isolated individuals and corporate actors on the same tasks. This paper surveys the empirical literature on the question from experimental economics, social psychology, and organisation science.

Keywords: Behaviour, Firms, Organizations, Associations, Groups

JEL Classification: C92, D21, D23, K22, L20