(Bloomberg Business) — Some of the biggest complaints about corporate life concern coworkers—and what self-interested jerks they can be. Turns out there's something to the complaints. People at work act more calculating, are more cynical about favors, and are less likely to reciprocate good deeds to coworkers than they are to acquaintances outside work, Stanford researchers say in a forthcoming Academy of Management Discoveries paper. 

Peter Belmi, a Ph.D. candidate in Stanford's department of organizational behavior, and Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, conducted five experimental studies to test how people respond differently to favors. In one study using 325 participants, Belmi and Pfeffer told some people to imagine that a personal acquaintance took them out to dinner and told others to imagine that an acquaintance from work took them out to dinner. Those whose imaginary work friend provided their imaginary meal felt significantly less likely to reciprocate than those who pretended that a personal acquaintance had treated them. They were also less likely to believe that the other person had acted out of a sincere desire to help.

In a second study of 182 people, Belmi and Pfeffer told participants that they were being offered a ride home from the airport either by a friend or by a coworker. When asked whether they'd be willing to return the favor, those who had imagined interacting with a coworker felt less obligated to return the favor if they were told that the coworker wouldn't be able to do much for them in the future.