Beyond Social Influence: Examining the Efficacy of Non-Social Recommendations
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Presented by: Danae Arroyos-Calvera
This paper investigates whether recommendations need to contain social information to change behavior in risk and allocation tasks.
Two online experiments with 1280 participants examine whether a recommendation based on normatively relevant information (i.e.,
the most common choice amongst previous decision-makers) shifts behaviour more than a transparently random recommendation.
Our results show that social recommendations tend to shift choices toward the recommended option, consistent with prior research on
norm compliance. However, the effect sizes and directions are statistically indistinguishable from those resulting from transparently
random recommendations. This rules out norm compliance as the sole mechanism through which social recommendations influence
behaviour. Instead, our findings suggest that recommendations do not need to be social to be effective and that the normative aspect
of social information may not be the only mechanism underlying their influence.
Two online experiments with 1280 participants examine whether a recommendation based on normatively relevant information (i.e.,
the most common choice amongst previous decision-makers) shifts behaviour more than a transparently random recommendation.
Our results show that social recommendations tend to shift choices toward the recommended option, consistent with prior research on
norm compliance. However, the effect sizes and directions are statistically indistinguishable from those resulting from transparently
random recommendations. This rules out norm compliance as the sole mechanism through which social recommendations influence
behaviour. Instead, our findings suggest that recommendations do not need to be social to be effective and that the normative aspect
of social information may not be the only mechanism underlying their influence.