Social exchange and psychological reactance in a simulated superior-subordinate relationship

Abstract Social exchange theory predicts that if a superior confers a social gift on a subordinate, the latter will feel obligated to reciprocate. A salient mode of reciprocation is compliance with superior's task norms. However, the theory of psychological reactance argues that imposing an obligation to reciprocate will generate counter-compliance if accompanied by other situational variables (e.g., a high degree of surveillance) which threaten the subordinates range of freedom. In a laboratory experiment using a business simulation task, it was found that under low surveillance, superior's conferral of a social gift (a compliment) led to greater compliance than in a control group (no social gift); but under high surveillance (operationally defined in terms of the requirement of frequent reporting of task decisions to the superior), subordinates receiving the social gift complied to a lesser extent than the control group.