Efficacy,Beliefs, and Investment in Step-Level Public Goods |
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Authors: | JACOB DIJKSTRA JAAP OUDE MULDERS |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Sociology , University of Groningen , Groningen , The Netherlands;2. Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS) , University of Groningen , Groningen , The Netherlands;3. Department of Sociology , University of Groningen , Groningen , The Netherlands |
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Abstract: | A central concept for understanding social dilemma behavior is the efficacy of an actor's cooperative behavior in terms of increasing group well-being. We report a decision and game theoretical analysis of efficacy in step-level public goods (SPGs). Previous research shows a positive relation between efficacy and contributions to SPGs and explains this relation by a purely motivational account. We show, however, that from a decision and game theory perspective an increasing relationship is not general, but only follows from very specific assumptions about players’ information and beliefs. We offer 3 examples of how the predicted efficacy–contribution relation depends on players’ information and beliefs. We discuss the implications of our results for the social psychology of efficacy in social dilemmas. |
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Keywords: | Bayesian equilibrium beliefs efficacy information social dilemmas step-level public goods |
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