Intragroup communication in social dilemmas: An artefactual public good field experiment in small-scale communities
Communication is well-known to increase cooperation rates in social dilemma situations, but the exact mechanisms behind this remain largely unclear. This study examines the impact of communication on public good provisioning in an artefactual field experiment conducted with 216 villagers from small,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297523000384/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1797355018343415808 |
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| author | Nils Christian Hoenow Adrian Pourviseh |
| author_facet | Nils Christian Hoenow Adrian Pourviseh |
| author_sort | Nils Christian Hoenow |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Communication is well-known to increase cooperation rates in social dilemma situations, but the exact mechanisms behind this remain largely unclear. This study examines the impact of communication on public good provisioning in an artefactual field experiment conducted with 216 villagers from small, rural communities in northern Namibia. In line with previous experimental findings, we observe a strong increase in cooperation when face-to-face communication is allowed before decision-making. We additionally introduce a condition in which participants cannot discuss the dilemma but talk to their group members about an unrelated topic prior to learning about the public good game. It turns out that this condition already leads to higher cooperation rates, albeit not as high as in the condition in which discussions about the social dilemma are possible. The setting in small communities also allows investigating the effects of pre-existing social relationships between group members and their interaction with communication. We find that both types of communication are primarily effective among socially more distant group members, which suggests that communication and social ties work as substitutes in increasing cooperation. Further analyses rule out better comprehension of the game and increased mutual expectations of one’s group members’ contributions as drivers for the communication effect. Finally, we discuss the role of personal and injunctive norms to keep commitments made during discussions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T13:58:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-91c09fcf3d1f4bec91d895e91de9cdbc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T13:58:12Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-91c09fcf3d1f4bec91d895e91de9cdbc2024-01-15T08:15:25ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752024-01-011910.1017/jdm.2023.38Intragroup communication in social dilemmas: An artefactual public good field experiment in small-scale communitiesNils Christian Hoenow0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7873-0025Adrian Pourviseh1RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, Essen, Germany School of Business and Economics, University of Marburg, Marburg, GermanySchool of Business and Economics, University of Marburg, Marburg, GermanyCommunication is well-known to increase cooperation rates in social dilemma situations, but the exact mechanisms behind this remain largely unclear. This study examines the impact of communication on public good provisioning in an artefactual field experiment conducted with 216 villagers from small, rural communities in northern Namibia. In line with previous experimental findings, we observe a strong increase in cooperation when face-to-face communication is allowed before decision-making. We additionally introduce a condition in which participants cannot discuss the dilemma but talk to their group members about an unrelated topic prior to learning about the public good game. It turns out that this condition already leads to higher cooperation rates, albeit not as high as in the condition in which discussions about the social dilemma are possible. The setting in small communities also allows investigating the effects of pre-existing social relationships between group members and their interaction with communication. We find that both types of communication are primarily effective among socially more distant group members, which suggests that communication and social ties work as substitutes in increasing cooperation. Further analyses rule out better comprehension of the game and increased mutual expectations of one’s group members’ contributions as drivers for the communication effect. Finally, we discuss the role of personal and injunctive norms to keep commitments made during discussions.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297523000384/type/journal_articlecommunicationcooperationfield experimentpublic goodsocial ties |
| spellingShingle | Nils Christian Hoenow Adrian Pourviseh Intragroup communication in social dilemmas: An artefactual public good field experiment in small-scale communities Judgment and Decision Making communication cooperation field experiment public good social ties |
| title | Intragroup communication in social dilemmas: An artefactual public good field experiment in small-scale communities |
| title_full | Intragroup communication in social dilemmas: An artefactual public good field experiment in small-scale communities |
| title_fullStr | Intragroup communication in social dilemmas: An artefactual public good field experiment in small-scale communities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Intragroup communication in social dilemmas: An artefactual public good field experiment in small-scale communities |
| title_short | Intragroup communication in social dilemmas: An artefactual public good field experiment in small-scale communities |
| title_sort | intragroup communication in social dilemmas an artefactual public good field experiment in small scale communities |
| topic | communication cooperation field experiment public good social ties |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1930297523000384/type/journal_article |
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