Empathy and socially responsible consumption: an experiment with the vote-with-the-wallet game
- PDF / 1,262,185 Bytes
- 40 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 43 Downloads / 195 Views
(0123456789().,-volV)(0123456789().,-volV)
Empathy and socially responsible consumption: an experiment with the vote-with-the-wallet game Vittorio Pelligra1
•
Alejandra Va´squez2
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract We study by means of a laboratory experiment the role of individuals’ empathy in the Vote-with-the-Wallet Game. Our main purpose is to analyze the impact of the ability to empathize on participants’ behavior when asked to choose between two specific types of product: a cheaper conventional good and a more expensive one which, however, produces a positive externality for the other participants. We consider three manipulations: a) a redistribution mechanism where the expensive product is subsidized by the buyers of the cheaper one; b) a framed version of the game where the expensive good is described as produced by a socially responsible company; c) a treatment where information about other participants’ behavior are made public. We find that all the manipulations increase the rate of contribution to the public good with respect to the baseline treatment and that the effects are stronger among participants who show higher levels of empathy. Keywords Empathy Responsible consumption Redistribution Framing Conformity Laboratory experiment
We would like to thank Marta Pancheva and Joaquin Ossandon for excellent research assistance. Financial support from the University of Cagliari is kindly acknowledged. & Alejandra Va´squez [email protected] Vittorio Pelligra [email protected] 1
Department of Economics and Business, University of Cagliari, V.le S.Ignazio 17, 09129 Cagliari, Italy
2
Center for Economics and Social Policy and Faculty of Humanities, Universidad Mayor, Av. Jose´ Toribio Medina 29, Santiago, Chile
123
V. Pelligra, A. Vásquez
1 Introduction and motivation We study the role of individuals’ empathy in the Vote-with-the-Wallet Game (VWG) a form of a Public Good Game (or Multiperson Prisoner’s Dilemma). Our main purpose is to analyze the impact of the ability to empathize on the players’ choice to voluntary and costly contribute to the public good by purchasing goods produced by firms committed to higher ethical and legal standards. To approach this research question, we use data from an unpublished experiment based on the Vote-with-the-Wallet Game (VWG) (Becchetti et al. 2016).1 In this game, each participant plays the role of a consumer who has to choose between two types of goods: one produced by a legally rated company (‘‘rated product’’), and the other produced by a firm with no legal rating (‘‘unrated product’’). The main difference between the two goods is that the rated one is twice as expensive as the unrated, but it generates positive externalities towards all the other consumers, contributing to an increase in social well-being. Our main hypothesis is that such a choice between rated and unrated goods is affected by individuals’ heterogenous empathizing tendencies. Empathy is a complex and multifaceted concept. We can
Data Loading...
