Abstract

While research has documented the framing effects of performance data on decision-making, little is known about the impact of data visualizations on performance gaming. We propose that performance information portraying prosocial impact reduces gaming if the information is episodic and visualizes benefits for clients in need. We also theorize about expert-novice differences and suggest that performance information is less influential among experts. We conduct an experiment with samples of citizens (novices) and school leaders (experts) in which subjects must decide whether they are willing to omit poorly performing students when calculating school-wide performance scores. We find that school leaders game less than citizens, and that the former are less responsive to episodic information cues than the latter. However, information becomes more influential if it can capture school leaders’ attention and if leaders have little work experience. More broadly, our findings suggest being cautious with generalizations across groups of data users.

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