Socially appropriate intervention: A cross-country investigation of third-party norm enforcement

Abstract

The enforcement of social norms is considered an important motivation for third-party intervention. We provide direct evidence for this theory in a cross-country experimental trust game with a sender, a receiver, and a third party who can punish or reward the receiver at their own cost. As a novelty, we share norm-relevant information – the sender’s expectation – with the third party and manipulate the level of norm uncertainty by having the third party interact with players from the same country versus from a different country. Our results suggest that third parties respond to the norm-relevant information when deciding on the intervention, and more so when they intervene with players from a different country. These results support the role of social norms in motivating third-party intervention.