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Social Exchange Theory
The major idea in social exchange theory is that parties enter into and maintain exchange relationships with others with the expectation that doing so will be rewarding (Blau, 1968; Gouldner, 1960; Homans, 1958). The theory is limited to examining actions that are contingent on rewarding reactions from others (Blau, 1964), and examines two-sided, mutually contingent, and mutually rewarding processes called “transactions” and relationships called “exchanges” (Emerson, 1976). The theory assumes that self-interested parties transact or exchange with self-interested others in order to accomplish outcomes that neither could achieve on his or her own (Lawler & Thye, 1999), and that these exchanges would cease as soon as they ...
