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The dark side of leadership: An experiment on religious heterogeneity and cooperation in India

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  • Keuschnigg, Marc
  • Schikora, Jan

Abstract

We investigate voluntary contribution to public goods in culturally heterogeneous groups with a laboratory experiment conducted among 432 Hindu and Muslim subjects in India. With our specification of ‘Leading by example’ we test for an interaction effect between leadership and religious heterogeneity in a high stake environment. While cultural diversity does not affect contributions in the standard linear Public Goods Game, it reduces cooperation in the presence of a leader. Furthermore, we show that preferences for conditional cooperation are only prevalent in pure groups. In mixed groups, poor leadership and uncertainty about followers’ reciprocity hinders the functionality of leadership as an institutional device to resolve social dilemmas.

Suggested Citation

  • Keuschnigg, Marc & Schikora, Jan, 2014. "The dark side of leadership: An experiment on religious heterogeneity and cooperation in India," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 19-26.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:48:y:2014:i:c:p:19-26
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2013.09.006
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    Cited by:

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    2. Ju, Ying & Kocher, Martin G., 2020. "Leading by example in a public goods experimentwith benefit heterogeneity," IHS Working Paper Series 25, Institute for Advanced Studies.
    3. Sriya Iyer, 2016. "The New Economics of Religion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(2), pages 395-441, June.
    4. Malte Müller & Jens Rommel & Christian Kimmich, 2018. "Farmers’ Adoption of Irrigation Technologies: Experimental Evidence from a Coordination Game with Positive Network Externalities in India," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 19(2), pages 119-139, May.
    5. Fijnanda van Klingeren & Nan Dirk de Graaf, 2021. "Heterogeneity, trust and common-pool resource management," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 11(1), pages 37-64, March.
    6. Billinger, Stephan & Rosenbaum, Stephen Mark, 2019. "Discretionary mechanisms and cooperation in hierarchies: An experimental study," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Leading by example; Conditional cooperation; Reciprocity; Religious diversity; Public Goods Game;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion

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