What information do we use in social dilemmas? Environmental uncertainty and the employment of coordination rules

Abstract

Previous research suggests that in social dilemma situations, group members tacitly coordinate their choice behavior on the basis of fairness considerations. After an analysis of the information needed to implement such coordination rules, a framework is presented to predict effects of environmental uncertainty in social dilemmas. Predictions were tested in two experiments on asymmetric Public Good dilemmas and Resource dilemmas. Results of both experiments indicate that when tacitly coordinating choice behavior, group members tend to rely solely on the environmental information they are certain about. More specifically, the results indicate that effects of environmental uncertainty are dependent on the dilemma type, the type of asymmetry, and the type of uncertainty group members are facing.