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Social Influence in Prosocial Behavior: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment
[“Social Distance and Social Decisions]

Author

Listed:
  • Lorenz Goette
  • Egon Tripodi

Abstract

We propose a novel experiment that prevents social learning, thus allowing us to disentangle the underlying mechanisms of social influence. Subjects observe their peer’s incentives, but not their behavior. We find evidence of conformity: When individuals believe that incentives make others contribute more, they also increase their contributions. Conformity is driven by individuals who feel socially close to their peer. However, when incentives are not expected to raise their peer’s contributions, participants reduce their own contributions. Our data are consistent with an erosion of norm adherence when prosocial behavior of the social reference is driven by extrinsic motives, and cannot be explained by incentive inequality or altruistic crowding out. These findings show scope for social influence in settings with limited observability and offer insights into the mediators of conformity.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorenz Goette & Egon Tripodi, 2021. "Social Influence in Prosocial Behavior: Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment [“Social Distance and Social Decisions]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 2373-2398.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jeurec:v:19:y:2021:i:4:p:2373-2398.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeea/jvaa054
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    Cited by:

    1. Robbett, Andrea & Colón, Lily & Matthews, Peter Hans, 2023. "Partisan political beliefs and social learning," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    2. Adena, Maja & Harke, Julian, 2022. "COVID-19 and pro-sociality: How do donors respond to local pandemic severity, increased salience, and media coverage?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 25(3), pages 824-844.
    3. Goette, Lorenz & Tripodi, Egon, 2024. "The limits of social recognition: Experimental evidence from blood donors," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    4. Benjamin Beranek & Geoffrey Castillo, 2024. "Continuous inclusion of other in the self," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 10(2), pages 544-568, December.
    5. Carvajal, Daniel, 2024. "Exposure to diversity, social proximity and ingroup bias," Discussion Paper Series in Economics 14/2024, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Economics.
    6. Linek, Maximilian & Traxler, Christian, 2021. "Framing and social information nudges at Wikipedia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 1269-1279.
    7. Thomas, Ranjeeta & Galizzi, Matteo M. & Moorhouse, Louisa & Nyamukapa, Constance & Hallett, Timothy B., 2024. "Do risk, time and prosocial preferences predict risky sexual behaviour of youths in a low-income, high-risk setting?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    8. Felix Kölle & Simone Quercia & Egon Tripodi, 2023. "Social Preferences under the Shadow of the Future," CESifo Working Paper Series 10534, CESifo.

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