Choosing Who You Are: The Structure and Behavioral Effects of Revealed Identification Preferences

Florian Hett (), Markus Kröll () and Mario Mechtel ()
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Florian Hett: Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
Markus Kröll: Goethe University Frankfurt
Mario Mechtel: Leuphana University Lüneburg

No 1903, Working Papers from Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Abstract: Social identity is an important driver of behavior. But where do differences in social identity come from? We use a novel laboratory experiment to measure individual identification preferences as a potential source of behavioral heterogeneity. Facing a trade-off between monetary payments and belonging to different groups, individuals are willing to forego significant earnings to avoid certain groups and thereby reveal their identification preferences. We then show that these identification preferences are systematically related to behavioral heterogeneity in groupspecific social preferences. These results illustrate the importance of identification as a choice and its relevance for explaining individual behavior.

Keywords: Social Identity; Identification Preferences; Social Preferences; Outgroup Discrimination; Behavioral Heterogeneity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 C92 D03 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 62 pages
Date: 2019-01-24
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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https://download.uni-mainz.de/RePEc/pdf/Discussion_Paper_1903.pdf First version, 2019 (application/pdf)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1903

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