How do you choose your partners? Experimental evidence on digital link formation – LinkLab

A large body of literature has documented how social connections help explain important economic phenomena such as information transmission, technology adoption, job search, trade. However, we still know very little about the behavioral drivers of social interaction: how do people decide which links they want to form, and why? My research proposal explores the behavioral motives of link formation, with a focus on online social interactions: all motivating examples and illustrations are inspired by the recent expansion of digital platforms (e.g. online marketplaces, digital social networks) and their consequences (e.g. the rise of virtual negotiations, the spread of partisan information). The ongoing wave of digitalization (of communication and economic activities) has initiated a revolution in the quantity and quality of online interaction, but we do not know how these connections are formed and severed. My proposed research would help fill this void, by testing some decision-making heuristics that could drive linking behavior in digital settings.

This proposal combines lab experiments with data originated from digital platforms. The primary methodological framework of this project is experimental: the research agenda is organized around three laboratory experiments which explore the driving forces of online social interactions from different yet interdependent angles. The experimental protocols I propose will allow me to answer questions such as: which heuristics do traders use to bargain in online marketplaces, when they do not have access to evaluations of the goods by others? Which contact do influencers choose to `tag’ to spread information and opinions? When we see users contributing generously on online platforms, can we attribute their behavior to equality concerns? Additionally, the requested timeframe of this ANR grant will allow me to complement and compare the evidence from laboratory experiments with the analysis of first-hand observational data collected from digital platforms (EBay, Twitter and Facebook respectively). These projects will advance our knowledge of digital social networks in an inter-disciplinary trajectory, combining the interest for individual incentives which is at the core of economics with the attention to the cognitive and behavioral aspects, emblematic of decision and social sciences.