One-shot exogenous interventions increase subsequent coordination in Denmark, Spain and Ghana

PLoS One. 2017 Nov 16;12(11):e0187840. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187840. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Everyday, we are bombarded with periodic, exogenous appeals and instructions on how to behave. How do these appeals and instructions affect subsequent coordination? Using experimental methods, we investigate how a one-time exogenous instruction affects subsequent coordination among individuals in a lab. Participants play a minimum effort game repeated 5 times under fixed matching with a one-time behavioral instruction in either the first or second round. Since coordination behavior may vary across countries, we run experiments in Denmark, Spain and Ghana, and map cross-country rankings in coordination with known national measures of fractualization, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation. Our results show that exogenous interventions increase subsequent coordination, with earlier interventions yielding better coordination than later interventions. We also find that cross-country rankings in coordination map with published national measures of fractualization, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Behavior*
  • Denmark
  • Ghana
  • Humans
  • Spain
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

A.L.A. and B.J.T. would like to acknowledge the support of the Danish National Research Foundation funding for the Center of Macroecology, Evolution and Climate (Grant No. DNRF96). A.L.A. would also like to acknowledge the support of the European Research Council under the European Community’s Programme “Ideas” (Call Identifier ERC-2013-StG / Grant No. 336703, Project RISICO, “RISk and uncertainty in developing and Implementing Climate change pOlicies”). The funders have no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.