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This paper advances a line of work on an expected-value model of social exchange, in which a power structure indicates opportunities for exchange and a sample space of exchange networks. When the probability distribution of the networks in this sample space is known, the expected-value model provides an excellent account of the distribution of benefits among actors in a variety of power structures. The model would be more elegant if it also predicted the probability distribution of exchange networks. Furthermore, in its current form, the model fails to account for the observed exchange payoffs in the Kite, a structure that has attracted considerable attention among exchange theorists. Here I advance the expected-value model by deriving the probability distribution of exchange networks from a simple process in which the probability of an exchange at time t depends on the value of an exchange at time t-1. I show that this approach addresses the anomalies posed by the Kite structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study combines two of the major theoretical perspectives in social psychology: social exchange and attribution theory. We propose a theoretical model that depicts the influence of two fundamental social factors--structural power and outcome equity--on causal attributions for exchange outcomes, which in turn mediate behavioral reactions to the exchange outcomes. We manipulate the social factors in a vignette describing an exchange between a female typist and another student (male or female) who needs a paper typed. Female subjects play the role of the typist and respond to a series of questions about their perceptions of the situation. Findings support the hypothesized positive relationships between structural and perceived power, and between outcome equity and perceived fairness. The effects of perceived equity on attributions appear stronger than those of perceived power. Also, there is some support for the role of self attributions in mediating reactions to exchange outcomes in opposite-sex dyads, but such mediating effects are less robust in female dyads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerson's exchange theory builds from the micro-social toward the macro-social level of conception, observation, and analysis. Yet although this theory is important, some of its main concepts were formulated originally in simple, categorical terms and require refinement. Some progress toward such refinement is evident in recent research on the measurement of positional power. Aiming toward further progress, the present paper proposes a procedure for measuring power imbalance at the exchange network level, reports exploratory experimental data testing the measure in a hypothesis implied by Emerson's theory, and suggests a direction for future research using the measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power-dependence theory and the social exchange framework on which it is based have been restricted to the analysis of rewarding exchanges. The only costs considered have been the "rewards foregone "from alternative exchange relations. This paper reports the first in a series of experiments studying power use in social exchange when actors have control over both positive and negative outcomes for one another. The relative effects of balance and imbalance in power over positive outcomes (reward power) and power over negative outcomes (punishment power) are compared in a laboratory experiment in which two real subjects and two computerized actors are connected in four-person exchange networks. Analyses of the distribution of exchange between the two real actors found that only imbalance in reward power affected power use. Punishment rarely was used and power use was no greater when punishment power was imbalanced than when it was balanced. An explanation for these findings, which suggests that imbalances in reward and punishment power are likely to affect behavior under different structural conditions, is proposed and hypotheses are offered for future testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]