Observational Learning: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Field Experiment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cai, Hongbin; Chen, Yuyu; Fang, Hanming
• 署名单位: Peking University; Duke University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.99.3.864
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 864-882
• 关键词: informational cascades; social interactions; retirement plan; Herd behavior; conformity; decisions; others; CHOICE; MARKET; HEALTH

摘要

We report results from a randomized natural field experiment conducted in a restaurant dining setting to distinguish the observational learning effect from the saliency effect. We find that, when customers are given ranking information of the five most popular dishes, the demand for those dishes increases by 13 to 20 percent. We do not find a significant saliency effect. We also find modest evidence that the observational learning effects are stronger among infrequent customers, and that dining satisfaction is increased when customers are presented with the information of the top five dishes. but not when presented with only names of some sample dishes. (JEL C93, D83)