Observational Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Field Experiment

Hongbin Cai (), Yuyu Chen and Hanming Fang

American Economic Review, 2009, vol. 99, issue 3, 864-82

Abstract: We report results from a randomized natural field experiment conducted in a restaurant dining setting to distinguish the observational learning effect from the saliency effect. We find that, when customers are given ranking information of the five most popular dishes, the demand for those dishes increases by 13 to 20 percent. We do not find a significant saliency effect. We also find modest evidence that the observational learning effects are stronger among infrequent customers, and that dining satisfaction is increased when customers are presented with the information of the top five dishes, but not when presented with only names of some sample dishes. (JEL C93, D83)

JEL-codes: C93 D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.99.3.864
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (187)

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Working Paper: Observational Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Field Experiment (2007)
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