Social Exchange Theory

Although social exchange theory is not a formal theory, it may be the most important body of social psychological thinking for explaining social behavior as exchange with an understanding of interdependence and relationships and the set of norms governing contractual relationships, emphasizing as it does both trust and commitment. There is neither an assumption of self-profit maximization nor is individual behavior the focus of attention. This behaviorist perspective emphasizes situational factors, interaction, and reinforcement and learning, as well as subjective evaluation of rewards and costs, and the exchange of rewards. Originating in the nexus of economics, psychology, sociology, and anthropology, and the concept of contract, social exchange thinking has become embedded in the marketing discipline, so much so that recent textbooks reproducing the convention do not mention it explicitly at all. Social exchange theory neither takes a utilitarian view of homo economicus nor does it assume risk-taking rationality in homo aleator by ignoring the social and the economic power distribution. Indeed, social exchange theory aims to explain what is not economic in social behavior. Keywords: social behavior; exchange; relationship; interdependence; reward