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Conditioning on What? Heterogeneous Contributions and Conditional Cooperation
Björn Hartig1, Bernd Irlenbusch2, Felix Kölle3
1Royal Holloway, University of London, Department of Economics, Egham Hill, Egham Surrey TW20 0EX, UK.
Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics
|February 2, 2018
Summary
Providing information on individual contributions increases cooperation in public goods games, especially when contributions are similar. People are more influenced by low contributors than high ones.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Economics
- Social Psychology
- Game Theory
Background:
- Cooperation is essential for public goods provision.
- Information sharing significantly impacts social behavior and decision-making.
- Understanding factors influencing cooperation is crucial for designing effective interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To experimentally investigate how different information about others' contributions affects cooperation in a public goods game.
- To compare the impact of individual contribution information versus average contribution information.
- To analyze how contribution homogeneity and heterogeneity influence cooperative behavior.
Main Methods:
- One-shot linear public goods game experiment.
- Manipulation of information provided to participants regarding others' contributions (individual vs. average vs. both).
- Measurement of participants' willingness to contribute.
Main Results:
- Individual contribution information leads to higher contributions than average information alone.
- The positive effect of individual information is strongest with homogeneous contributions.
- Cooperative behavior shows heterogeneity, with more individuals following low contributors than high contributors.
Conclusions:
- Information about individual contributions significantly enhances cooperation in public goods games.
- The structure of information (individual vs. average) and the homogeneity of contributions are key determinants of cooperative behavior.
- Social influence dynamics, particularly susceptibility to negative examples, play a critical role in cooperation decisions.
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