Social information 'nudges': An experiment with multiple group references

Shaun Hargreaves Heap, Abhijit Ramalingam and David Rojo Arjona

No 15-02, Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Science (CBESS) from School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.

Abstract: Social information 'nudges' concerning how others perform typically boost individual performances in experiments with one group reference point. However, in many natural settings, sometimes due to policy, there are several such group reference points. We address the complications that such multiple group social information might introduce through an experiment. The boost to average performance is significant and comparable to the one group case. Between-group inequality does not change. Individual inequality falls, however, because the boost is largest among the pre-‘nudge’ very poor performers. Finally, the boost to average performance is highest when individuals freely choose their group affiliations.

Keywords: social comparison; nudge; effort provision; reference points (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D03 D60 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Social Information “Nudges”: An Experiment with Multiple Group References (2017)
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