Students, Temporary Workers and Co-Op Workers: An Experimental Investigation on Social Preferences

Abstract

We conduct an artefactual field experiment to compare the individual preferences and propensity to cooperate of three pools of subjects: Undergraduate students, temporary workers and permanent workers. We find that students are more selfish and contribute less than workers. Temporary and permanent contract workers have similar other-regarding preferences and display analogous contribution patterns in an anonymous Public Good Game.

Keywords

• temporary worker
• decomposed game technique
• dictator game
• public good game
• experiment