Ownership effects in dictator games: Evidence from an experimental study

Abstract

In this study, we tested the effect of time delays on sharing behavior. We conducted a dictator game to examine whether dictators change their sharing behavior if they have more time between receiving and sharing money. When the response time was 2 h, the sharing behavior of dictators was similar to sharing behavior in a standard game without time delay. However, if dictators kept the money they received for a week, they were remarkably less likely to share it. This finding provides suggestive evidence of the ownership effect in sharing behavior.