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The behavioral mechanisms of voluntary cooperation across culturally diverse societies: Evidence from the US, the UK, Morocco, and Turkey

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Till Weber

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

We examine the role of cooperative preferences, beliefs, and punishments to uncover potential cross-societal differences in voluntary cooperation. Using one-shot public goods experiments in four comparable subject pools from the US and the UK (two similar Western societies) and Morocco and Turkey (two comparable non-Western societies), we find that cooperation is lower in Morocco and Turkey than in the UK and the US. Using the ABC approach – in which cooperative attitudes and beliefs explain cooperation – we show that cooperation is mostly driven by differences in beliefs rather than cooperative preferences or peer punishment, both of which are similar across the four subject pools. Our methodology is generalizable across subject pools and highlights the central role of beliefs in explaining differences in voluntary cooperation within and across culturally, economically, and institutionally diverse societies. Because our behavioral mechanisms correctly predict actual contributions, we argue that our approach provides a suitable methodology for analyzing the determinants of voluntary cooperation of any group of interest.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Weber TO, Schulz JF, Beranek B, Lambarraa-Lehnhardt F, Gächter S

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

Year: 2023

Volume: 215

Pages: 134-152

Print publication date: 01/11/2023

Online publication date: 21/09/2023

Acceptance date: 02/09/2023

Date deposited: 22/09/2023

ISSN (print): 0167-2681

Publisher: Elsevier BV

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2023.09.006

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2023.09.006

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