The anticommons dilemma is not a well known dilemma, but wellworth studying as it has a practical impact on individuals and society when it occurs. It occurs when multiple people co-own a resource...Show moreThe anticommons dilemma is not a well known dilemma, but wellworth studying as it has a practical impact on individuals and society when it occurs. It occurs when multiple people co-own a resource or property who have to grant each other permission in order to use or sell the resource. This study explores whether in an anticommons dilemma a participant’s feeling of ownership over a resource increases when he or she has to put effort into obtaining it. Half of the participants (Ntotal = 208) had to exert effort by doing an effort task in order to influence their Willingness To Accept (WTA) value, i.e. the amount of points they are willing to accept as payment in order to let the other co-owner use the resource. The participants also filled in a Psychological Ownership scale. Effort did not significantly influence psychological ownership, but psychological ownership did significantly influence WTA. There was no significant WTA difference between the (un)equal effort treatment conditions. The effects of effort are further analysed and discussed.Show less
The present study explores the effect of externalities awareness and Social Value Orientation (SVO) in anticommons dilemmas. Making participants of an anticommons game aware of externalities was...Show moreThe present study explores the effect of externalities awareness and Social Value Orientation (SVO) in anticommons dilemmas. Making participants of an anticommons game aware of externalities was expected to increase cooperation, by decreasing their willingnessto-accept (WTA) values, i.e. the amount they would be willing to accept in order to allow other individuals to make use of the resource. The results of the computer-based anticommons game (N = 167) did not support this hypothesis. However, the results did show, as predicted, that the more prosocial participants were, the more easily they allowed access to the resource by setting lower willingness-to-accept (WTA) values. Additionally, the hypothesized interaction effect between externalities awareness and Social Value Orientation (SVO) was not confirmed. Proselfs’ behavior did not change significantly more than prosocials’, after they got aware of the externalities. Finally, the negative effects of uncertainty in cooperation are discussed.Show less
Up until now, research looking into factors that influence decision-making in anticommons dilemmas has been scant. The current study attempts to fill that void by conducting an experimental...Show moreUp until now, research looking into factors that influence decision-making in anticommons dilemmas has been scant. The current study attempts to fill that void by conducting an experimental investigation of three levels of uncertainty (no vs. low vs. high) regarding buyers' willingness- to-pay (WTP) and how that influences the sellers' willingness-to-accept (WTA) in an anticommons dilemma. Furthermore, this study will investigate if accountability (accountability vs. no accountability) counters the effect of uncertainty. To investigate this, participants (N = 141) will be exposed to all three uncertainty conditions while taking part in a 3-person anticommons game. Additionally, accountability is manipulated by whether or not the participants have to justify their decisions to their fellow group members. As predicted, participants set higher WTA prices under uncertain conditions. However, accountability did not attenuate this effect.Show less
