Preference communication and leadership in group decision-making

Seda Ertac; Mehmet Y. Gurdal

We report results from a laboratory experiment that explores the effects of preference communication and leader selection mechanisms in group decision-making. In a setting where all members of a group get the same payoff based on the group leader's decision of how much risk to take, we study the effects of two treatment variables: (1) whether group members can communicate their preferences to the leader, (2) whether the leader is exogenously appointed or voluntarily self-selects into the position. We find that the leader selection mechanism crucially affects the integration of group preferences into the leader's decision: the communicated preferences have a significant effect on the actual group decision only when the leader is appointed. We also find that preference communication by non-leaders is frequently strategic.

MoreLess

Year of publication:	2013 ; First Version: July 2012, This Version: October 2013
Authors:	Ertac, Seda ; Gurdal, Mehmet Y.
Publisher:	Istanbul : TÜSİAD- Koç University Economic Research Forum
Subject:	group decision-making \| risk \| leadership \| delegation \| advice \| information \| experiments \| Gruppenentscheidung \| Group decision-making \| Führungsstil \| Leadership style \| Experiment \| Entscheidung \| Decision \| Kommunikation \| Communication \| Asymmetrische Information \| Asymmetric information \| Entscheidungstheorie \| Decision theory