Water Cooler Ostracism: Social Exclusion as a Punishment Mechanism

Within social situations free-riding individuals can be informally punished through social ostracism; ostracized group members are removed from the social aspect of the group but are still formally members. In this study we examine the effectiveness of non-monetary social ostracism as a punishment for low contributions to a public account. Social ostracism may occur in the workplace where workers produce a public good amongst their inputs. Since these workers are all of the same rank, no worker has the ability to punish free riding behavior. Yet, the group as a whole has the ability to punish free-riding group members through various social mechanisms (e.g. name calling, ostracism, etc). We find social ostracism helps maintain cooperation but only after prior experience with a VCM without possible social punishment.