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The Effect of Group Attachment and Social Position on Prosocial Behavior. Evidence from Lab-in-the-Field Experiments

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  • Delia Baldassarri
  • Guy Grossman

Abstract

Social life is regulated by norms of fairness that constrain selfish behavior. While a substantial body of scholarship on prosocial behavior has provided evidence of such norms, large inter- and intra-personal variation in prosocial behavior still needs to be explained. The article identifies two social-structural dimensions along which people's generosity varies systematically: group attachment and social position. We conducted lab-in-the-field experiments involving 2,597 members of producer organizations in rural Uganda. Using different variants of the dictator game, we demonstrate that group attachment positively affects prosocial behavior, and that this effect is not simply the by-product of the degree of proximity between individuals. Second, we show that occupying a formal position in an organization or community leads to greater generosity toward in-group members. Taken together, our findings show that prosocial behavior is not an invariant social trait; rather, it varies according to individuals' relative position in the social structure.

Suggested Citation

  • Delia Baldassarri & Guy Grossman, 2013. "The Effect of Group Attachment and Social Position on Prosocial Behavior. Evidence from Lab-in-the-Field Experiments," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-9, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0058750
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058750
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    3. Chikwalila, Eric & Willinger, Marc & Farolfi, Stefano & Mungatana, Eric & Jourdain, Damien, 2023. "The impact of a scholarship programme on social capital formation among university students: An economic experiment at the University of Pretoria, South Africa," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 18(1), April.
    4. Riyanto, Yohanes E. & Jonathan, Yeo X.W., 2018. "Directed trust and trustworthiness in a social network: An experimental investigation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 234-253.
    5. Jiang Bing & Allen Samuel K., 2019. "To Be a Blood Donor or Not to Be? Investigating Institutional and Student Characteristics at a Military College," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 19(4), pages 1-17, October.
    6. Rawadee Jarungrattanapong & Suparee Boonmanunt, 2020. "Collective action and other-regarding behavior: an assessment of games vs reality in Thailand," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 22(4), pages 485-507, October.
    7. Noam Brenner & Dan Miodownik & Shaul R. Shenhav, 2024. "Leadership repertoire and political engagement in a divided city: The case of East Jerusalem," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(1), pages 58-77, January.
    8. Uri Gneezy & Alex Imas, 2016. "Lab in the Field: Measuring Preferences in the Wild," CESifo Working Paper Series 5953, CESifo.
    9. Jin Zheng & Arthur Schram & Tianle Song, 2023. "Social status and prosocial behavior," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 26(5), pages 1085-1114, November.
    10. Neundorf, Anja & Cavaille, Charlotte, 2016. "The price of sharing: support for universal and equal access to health care in diversifying neighborhoods," ISER Working Paper Series 2016-10, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    11. Jennifer A. Loughmiller-Cardinal & James Scott Cardinal, 2023. "The Behavior of Information: A Reconsideration of Social Norms," Societies, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-27, April.

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