Social norm uncertainty: Measurement using coordination games and behavioral relevance

• A mechanism for measuring social norm uncertainty at the individual level is proposed. • Subjects exhibit considerable uncertainty regarding both injunctive and descriptive norms. • Uncertainty weakens the relationship between norms as point estimations and social preferences. • Low average norm uncertainty is associated with higher disagreement at the population level. We propose a modified pure coordination game to elicit social norm perception as distributions at the individual level. In addition to receiving point estimations equivalent to Krupka and Weber (2013), the dispersion of individual-level norm distributions indicates a subject's social norm uncertainty. In an experiment involving allocation decisions, we measure and gauge the behavioral relevance of norm uncertainty. We find that subjects exhibit considerable uncertainty regarding both injunctive and descriptive social norms. Moreover, social norm uncertainty weakens the relationship between norms as point estimations and revealed social preferences. Finally, the more confident subjects are about their own norm perception, the more they disagree at the population level. The results indicate that uncertainty is a distinct and behaviorally relevant dimension of norm perception that reduces norm compliance.