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The strategic use of social identity

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Tom Lane

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

Abstract

Individuals often have the power to manipulate which of their multiple dimensions of social identity are salient when entering economic interactions. This paper represents the first empirical exploration of this phenomenon. Experimental results show identity dimension choice is of substantial importance, providing potential earnings gains up to around 56%. Actual gains are smaller: people choose identity dimensions strategically and benefit from broadly accurate beliefs about counterparts’ discriminatory tendencies, but are also hampered by some misperceptions (e.g. overestimating levels of in-group favouritism). Furthermore, many individuals sacrifice expected payoffs to make their preferred dimensions salient, suggesting intrinsic utility derives from social identity.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Lane T

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

Year: 2024

Volume: 224

Pages: 355-368

Print publication date: 01/08/2024

Online publication date: 19/06/2024

Acceptance date: 09/06/2024

Date deposited: 24/07/2024

ISSN (print): 0167-2681

Publisher: Elsevier BV

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2024.06.014

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2024.06.014

Data Access Statement: Data will be made available to download as a supplementary material via the journal's website.

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