When Public Information Backfires: Heterogeneous Groups (Un)coordinate on a Fairness Norm

Abstract Experiments on social norm interventions suggest that public dissemination of normative information, which creates common knowledge on a social norm, increases conformity to the social norm more effectively than privately disseminated information, regardless of other factors affecting norm conformity, such as group identity and heterogeneous endowments. We present an experimental test of the effect that the channel of dissemination – public versus private – has on norm conformity at different levels of group identity in a public-goods setting with heterogeneously endowed actors. Participants receive a normative message about the behavior that participants of a previous experiment identified as the “fairest.” We vary between strong and weak group identity, and public and private information, and record participants’ compliance with the norm. Our results suggest that the effect of public normative information depends on the salience of group identity and the initial endowment of individuals. At best, it has no effect on norm conformity. However, in the heterogeneous setting, it reduces norm conformity among those with lower initial endowments. This poses challenges for eliciting a behavioral change using normative information since providing public information may backfire.