Replication package: Dataset and stata-do-file for analysis in "Intragroup communication in social dilemmas: An artefactual public good field experiment in small-scale communities"

This dataset was used for the analysis in "Intragroup communication in social dilemmas: An artefactual public good field experiment in small-scale communities". The data was collected in Namibia in 2017 as part of the SASSCAL research project by Nils Christian Hoenow and Adrian Pourviseh as members of the Chair for Development and Cooperative Economics at the University of Marburg. Funded by the Southern African Science Service Center for Climate Change and Adaptive Land-UseManagement (SASSCAL) through the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (Grant No. 01LG1201B).

Article Title: Intragroup communication in social dilemmas: An artefactual public good field experiment in small-scale communities 

Authors: Nils Christian Hoenow* and Adrian Pourviseh**

*RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, Essen, Germany and & School of Business and Economics, University of
Marburg, Marburg, Germany

**School of Business and Economics, University of
Marburg, Marburg, Germany

Abstract: 
Communication is well-known to increase cooperation rates in social dilemma situations, but the exact mechanisms behind this remain largely unclear. This study examines the impact of communication on public good provisioning in an artefactual field experiment conducted with 216 villagers from small, rural communities in northern Namibia. In line with previous experimental findings, we observe a strong increase in cooperation when face-to-face communication is allowed before decision-making. We additionally introduce a condition in which participants cannot discuss the dilemma but talk to their group members about an unrelated topic prior to learning about the
public good game. It turns out that this condition already leads to higher cooperation rates, albeit not as high as in the condition in which discussions about the social dilemma are possible. The setting in small communities also allows investigating the effects of pre-existing social relationships between group members and their interaction with communication.We find that both types of communication are primarily effective among socially more distant group members, which suggests that communication and social ties work as substitutes in increasing cooperation. Further analyses rule out better comprehension of the game and increased mutual expectations of one’s group members’ contributions as drivers for the communication effect. Finally, we discuss the role of personal and injunctive norms to keep commitments made during discussions.