This award funds a doctoral dissertation that uses lab experiments to study decisionmaking. A topic of practical interest to both economics and organizational studies is how individuals, when making decisions, take into consideration the impact of their actions on others, as well as social norms (such as fairness) that may apply. This project focuses on a particular question within that topic: when an authority figure attempts to exploit one of the subordinates over which he or she is an authority, when and why do other subordinates, at a cost to themselves, choose to challenge that exploitation? If they challenge the authority, is it because they think the victim of the exploitation is being treated unjustly, or because they want to reduce the likelihood of future exploitation that could target them, or is it to create (or maintain) a beneficial relationship with the victim?
This project uses experimental methods to explore this question using a stylized version of the authority/subordinates scenario drawn from previous experimental literature. Participants take on the role of either an authority or a subordinate and interact repeatedly, each round being randomly and anonymously regrouped with other anonymous participants. A novel experimental design allows the selective removal of different incentives, thereby making it possible to determine the relative strengths of the distinct (though not incompatible) motivations listed above: acting out of a social preference, acting to influence the authority's future behavior, or acting to influence the other subordinate's future behavior. This project explores behavior and motivations in a setting that has relevance to a range of political science and economic models. As well, it provides new evidence on how sophisticated reasoning about others' strategies, beliefs and learning factors into decision-making.
This study?s research on the authority/subordinates relationship has important implications for the design of political institutions, as well as other hierarchical organizations (including firms, political parties, and professional organizations). The evidence gathered regarding individuals? social preferences has practical value for those involved with distributional issues, including charities (which must understand what motivates potential donors) and designers of social welfare policies. This project also has a broad impact on participation and learning by underrepresented groups, through their experiences as subjects in the experiment. The project involves over two hundred participants, drawn from the diverse student body at the University of Michigan and from a broad range of majors including humanities and social sciences, to learn about modern research methods through direct participation, and have the opportunity to ask questions about research methods.
