Coordination with Asymmetries in Highly Complex and Volatile Environments

n the first chapter, I present an experimental analysis of weak-link coordination games in which subjects face specific time constraints in a volatile environment. In a basic 2×2 design, one factor involves situations in which all subjects face decision time (seconds to select a strategy) constraint...

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Autor: Ellis, Jessica L.
Tipo de recurso: tesis doctoral
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:243479
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/243479
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Experiment
Coordinació
Experimento
Weak-link coordination game
Coordinación
Coordination
Ciències Socials
id ES_e7f10bab810dc9fa485e322efb65e6ca
oai_identifier_str oai:ddd.uab.cat:243479
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Coordination with Asymmetries in Highly Complex and Volatile Environments
title Coordination with Asymmetries in Highly Complex and Volatile Environments
spellingShingle Coordination with Asymmetries in Highly Complex and Volatile Environments
Ellis, Jessica L.
Experiment
Coordinació
Experimento
Weak-link coordination game
Coordinación
Coordination
Ciències Socials
title_short Coordination with Asymmetries in Highly Complex and Volatile Environments
title_full Coordination with Asymmetries in Highly Complex and Volatile Environments
title_fullStr Coordination with Asymmetries in Highly Complex and Volatile Environments
title_full_unstemmed Coordination with Asymmetries in Highly Complex and Volatile Environments
title_sort Coordination with Asymmetries in Highly Complex and Volatile Environments
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Ellis, Jessica L.
author Ellis, Jessica L.
author_facet Ellis, Jessica L.
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Solà Belda, Carles
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Experiment
Coordinació
Experimento
Weak-link coordination game
Coordinación
Coordination
Ciències Socials
topic Experiment
Coordinació
Experimento
Weak-link coordination game
Coordinación
Coordination
Ciències Socials
description n the first chapter, I present an experimental analysis of weak-link coordination games in which subjects face specific time constraints in a volatile environment. In a basic 2×2 design, one factor involves situations in which all subjects face decision time (seconds to select a strategy) constraints. Another factor varies feedback time (seconds to review the outcome of the round) constraints. Overall, I find that stringent decision constraints lead to lower minimum effort levels, but increased feedback time seems to improve decision-making in anticipating others' behaviors and aligning decisions with firm outcomes. Feedback constraints impact coordination outcomes more when decisions are made under time pressure. This finding suggests that if decisions are made under time duress, adequate recovery time can mean the difference between efficient and inefficient coordination. In the second chapter, I study the effect of heterogeneous groups on the efficiency of coordination in repeated weak-link coordination games. I develop an experimental environment to test compositional effects on organizational performance using peer effects to maximize productivity. Our experimental setup models a task environment with two different types of workers. In standard settings, subjects are given five effort choices: Ei ∈{0, 10, 20, 30, 40}. I introduce a second type of worker restricted to the highest effort choices: Ei ∈{30, 40}. I find that heterogeneous groups induce change to higher, more efficient equilibria. Despite increases in group size, firms with restricted workers report higher overall output. Several firms managed to coordinate at much higher levels, with two firms reaching the most efficient coordination level. Employees exert more effort when another employee(s) can be harmed in the firm. This paper provides a mechanism to alleviate coordination failure among large groups, demonstrating how social spillovers can overpower group-size effects. In the third chapter, we test whether participants exert more considerable effort when payoff-equivalent incentives are framed as losses rather than gains. I also intersect loss aversion and social preferences to model real-world situations when employees' actions can cause another employee to bear a loss. I develop an experimental environment to test stake-size effects on organizational performance. Subjects are given an initial endowment at the beginning of the experiment, which allows us to assess decisions at different reference points and test the degree of loss aversion in each setting. We find significant treatment effects, such that employees in high-stake frames contribute significantly more effort than employees in low-stake frames. Loss aversion is efficiency-enhancing only in high-stake conditions. In other words, framing effects work if the stakes are high enough. We find that social preferences are not as influential in the loss domain compared to our previous findings in the gain domain. It appears that social concerns are influenced by the degree of loss framing. This paper contributes to the coordination literature on framing effects with different stakes and coordination outcomes when loss aversion intersects with social preferences. Indeed, the current COVID-19 pandemic underlines the importance of understanding how exposure to loss can shape decisions and whether this differs with social considerations when employees' decisions can cause another to suffer the consequences.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2
2021-01-01
2021
2021-01-01
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Tesi doctoral
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
format doctoralThesis
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://ddd.uab.cat/record/243479
url https://ddd.uab.cat/record/243479
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
instname:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
instname_str Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
reponame_str Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
collection Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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spelling Coordination with Asymmetries in Highly Complex and Volatile EnvironmentsEllis, Jessica L.ExperimentCoordinacióExperimentoWeak-link coordination gameCoordinaciónCoordinationCiències Socialsn the first chapter, I present an experimental analysis of weak-link coordination games in which subjects face specific time constraints in a volatile environment. In a basic 2×2 design, one factor involves situations in which all subjects face decision time (seconds to select a strategy) constraints. Another factor varies feedback time (seconds to review the outcome of the round) constraints. Overall, I find that stringent decision constraints lead to lower minimum effort levels, but increased feedback time seems to improve decision-making in anticipating others' behaviors and aligning decisions with firm outcomes. Feedback constraints impact coordination outcomes more when decisions are made under time pressure. This finding suggests that if decisions are made under time duress, adequate recovery time can mean the difference between efficient and inefficient coordination. In the second chapter, I study the effect of heterogeneous groups on the efficiency of coordination in repeated weak-link coordination games. I develop an experimental environment to test compositional effects on organizational performance using peer effects to maximize productivity. Our experimental setup models a task environment with two different types of workers. In standard settings, subjects are given five effort choices: Ei ∈{0, 10, 20, 30, 40}. I introduce a second type of worker restricted to the highest effort choices: Ei ∈{30, 40}. I find that heterogeneous groups induce change to higher, more efficient equilibria. Despite increases in group size, firms with restricted workers report higher overall output. Several firms managed to coordinate at much higher levels, with two firms reaching the most efficient coordination level. Employees exert more effort when another employee(s) can be harmed in the firm. This paper provides a mechanism to alleviate coordination failure among large groups, demonstrating how social spillovers can overpower group-size effects. In the third chapter, we test whether participants exert more considerable effort when payoff-equivalent incentives are framed as losses rather than gains. I also intersect loss aversion and social preferences to model real-world situations when employees' actions can cause another employee to bear a loss. I develop an experimental environment to test stake-size effects on organizational performance. Subjects are given an initial endowment at the beginning of the experiment, which allows us to assess decisions at different reference points and test the degree of loss aversion in each setting. We find significant treatment effects, such that employees in high-stake frames contribute significantly more effort than employees in low-stake frames. Loss aversion is efficiency-enhancing only in high-stake conditions. In other words, framing effects work if the stakes are high enough. We find that social preferences are not as influential in the loss domain compared to our previous findings in the gain domain. It appears that social concerns are influenced by the degree of loss framing. This paper contributes to the coordination literature on framing effects with different stakes and coordination outcomes when loss aversion intersects with social preferences. Indeed, the current COVID-19 pandemic underlines the importance of understanding how exposure to loss can shape decisions and whether this differs with social considerations when employees' decisions can cause another to suffer the consequences.Solà Belda, Carles 22021-01-0120212021-01-01Tesi doctoralhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesisapplication/pdfhttps://ddd.uab.cat/record/243479reponame:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UABinstname:Universitat Autònoma de BarcelonaInglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:ddd.uab.cat:2434792026-06-06T12:50:31Z
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