Don't Patronize Me! An Experiment on Preferences for Authorship

Silvia Lübbecke and Wendelin Schnedler
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Silvia Lübbecke: University of Paderborn

No 12828, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Do people only reject interference and keep control in order to affect the outcome? We find that 20% of subjects reject unrequired help and insist on their solution to a problem – although doing so is costly and does not change the result. We tease out the motives by varying the information available to the interfering party (paternalist). Subjects do not resist to show to the paternalist that they were able to find the correct solution. Instead, two motives seem to play a role. First, subjects prefer to have produced or 'authored' the solution themselves. Second, subjects desire to signal their authorship and hence their independence to the paternalist.

Keywords: selfdetermination; paternalism; competence; autonomy; image concerns; self-esteem; preference for authorship (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D82 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2019-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp
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Published - published in: Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 2020, 29 (2), 420-438

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Related works:
Journal Article: Don't patronize me! An experiment on preferences for authorship (2020)
Working Paper: Don't patronize me! An Experiment on Preferences for Authorship (2019)
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