By chance or by choice? Biased attribution of others’ outcomes

Nisvan Erkal, Lata Gangadharan () and Boon Han Koh

Department of Economics - Working Papers Series from The University of Melbourne

Abstract: Decision makers in positions of power often make unobserved choices under risk and uncertainty. What inferences are made about their choices when only outcomes are observed? Using a laboratory experiment, we investigate attribution biases in the evaluation of outcomes. Decision makers face a trade-off between maximizing their own payoff and those of other individuals. We show that attribution biases exist in the evaluation of good outcomes and decision makers receive too little credit for their successes. Importantly, the biases tend to be driven by subjects who make the selfish choice themselves when placed in the role of the decision maker.

Keywords: Beliefs about others’ decisions; Biases; Asymmetric attribution; Social preferences; Experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C92 D81 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cdm and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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