Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/129292 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
MAGKS Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics No. 06-2016
Publisher: 
Philipps-University Marburg, School of Business and Economics, Marburg
Abstract: 
A variety of different social contexts have been used when measuring distributional preferences. This could be problematic as different degrees of social interdependence may affect people's distributional preferences, and this contextual variance may inadvertently muddle the measurement process and complicate comparisons between different strands of research. In the present study, we systematically measure distributional preferences embedded within different social contexts, as well as cooperative choices in a strategic setting. More specifically, we use a within-subjects design and compare the choices people make in resource allocation tasks with role certainty, role uncertainty, decomposed games, and matrix games. Results show that, at the aggregate level, role uncertainty and decomposed games both lead to higher degrees of prosociality when compared to role certainty. At the individual level, we observe considerable differences in behavior across the social contexts, indicating that the majority of people are sensitive to these different social settings but respond in different ways. We conclude with some recommendations for measuring distributional preferences as an individual difference and reiterate that social context is an inherent part of measurement methodology when considering social motivations.
Subjects: 
Distributional Preferences
Social Preferences
Other Regarding Preferences
Social Value Orientation (SVO)
Measurement Methods
Individual Differences
JEL: 
C91
D03
D64
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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