The Influence of Empirical and Normative Expectations on Cooperation

Felix Kölle and Simone Quercia

No 99, ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series from University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the joint influence of empirical and normative expectations on cooperative behavior. We conduct two experimental studies (n = 243) in which we separately elicit (i) behavior in a public goods game and (ii) social norms under the form of normative and empirical expectations. In a situation where individuals can decide conditionally on others' contributions, we find a strong norm of conditional cooperation whereby people find it socially appropriate to match others contribution and believe others to comply with such rule of behavior. In contrast, when there is strategic uncertainty regarding others' behavior, empirical and normative expectations diverge substantially. While individuals believe that contributing fully to the public good is the most appropriate action, they expect others to contribute only half of their resources. This renders normative expectations unpredictive for average behavior and underlines the importance of a close alignment of empirical and normative expectations for the influence of social norms on behavior.

Keywords: Cooperation; social norms; expectations; public goods; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C92 D63 H41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2021-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-cdm, nep-exp and nep-gth
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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https://www.econtribute.de/RePEc/ajk/ajkdps/ECONtribute_099_2021.pdf First version, 2021 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The influence of empirical and normative expectations on cooperation (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:099

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