Helping and Antisocial Behavior in the Workplace
Michael Haylock (University of Tübingen); Patrick Kampkötter (University of Tübingen); Michael Kosfeld (Goethe University Frankfurt, CEPR, CESifo, IZA, and ZEF); Ferdinand von Siemens (Goethe University Frankfurt and CESifo)
Abstract
Using representative matched employer-employee panel data of German firms, we show that differences in leadership as well as employees' social preferences and personality traits explain firm-level differences in helping and antisocial behavior in the workplace. Our measures are derived from established survey constructs and include preference items that have been behaviorally validated in experimental games by prior research. Together, the empirical results corroborate the importance of (heterogeneity in) social preferences and leadership for the formation of cooperative and non-cooperative workplace cultures, as has been suggested by theory.