A stranger in a strange land: Promises and identity

Gary Charness, Giovanni Di Bartolomeo () and Stefano Papa

No 166, CIMEO Working Paper Series from Centre for Investigation and Modelling of Experimental Observations (CIMEO)

Abstract: This study investigates how communication and promises interact with social identity and in-group favoritism. Using a laboratory experiment based on a random dictator game with pre-play communication, group membership, and a partner-switching mechanism, the paper examines whether communication can improve trust and cooperation between out-group members. The results show that communication increases cooperation but does not by itself eliminate the social identity gap. However, mutual promises are more effective for out-groups than for in-groups, reducing or eliminating in-group favoritism. The study also finds evidence that decisions are driven by different motivations across groups: expectation-based motivations in the case of in-groups and moral commitment in the case of out-groups.

Keywords: social identity; in-group bias; communication; promises; exogenous variation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 C91 D03 D64 D90 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Related works:
Journal Article: A stranger in a strange land: Promises and identity (2024)
Working Paper: A stranger in a strange land: Promises and identity (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ter:wpaper:00166

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