Transparency and reciprocal behavior in employment relations

The impact of transparency on the extent of reciprocal behavior is investigated in a simple repeated gift exchange experiment where principals set wages and agents respond by choosing effort levels that, with a random component, determine principals' payoff. It is shown that direct reciprocal behavior is much stronger in a more transparent situation where efforts are revealed to the principals. However, there is no significant impact of transparency on average effort as non-transparency leads to a stronger diversity in behavioral patterns such that, at the same time, the frequency of very low and very large effort levels increases.