 How does the effect of communication vary with group size? Experimental evidence from the multi-player stag huntNick Feltovich and Philip Grossman No 33-14, Monash Economics Working Papers from Monash University, Department of Economics Abstract: Numerous studies have examined factors influencing the likelihood of cooperative outcomes in nonzero-sum games, but there has been little study of the interaction between two of the most important: group size and communication. We report results from an experiment in which groups of size between 2 and 15 play a one-shot multi-player stag-hunt game. In our full communication treatment, all group members write a cheap-talk message, with one randomly chosen to be sent. In a choice only treatment, subjects write messages but none is sent, and in a baseline treatment, there are no messages at all. We find a significant negative interaction between the group size and the presence/content of communication: the beneficial effect of communication on cooperation, cooperative outcomes, and payoffs decreases sharply as the group size increases. Our results suggest that care should be taken in generalising conclusions from small-group experiments to large-group settings in the outside world. Keywords: communication; coordination; cooperation; group decision making; equilibrium selection (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mos:moswps:2014-33 Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Monash Economics Working Papers from Monash University, Department of Economics Department of Economics, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia. Contact information at EDIRC. |
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