Social comparisons, status and driving behavior

Abstract

The establishment of desirable social norms is an integral part of a well-functioning civil society. While recent evidence has demonstrated that social comparison can affect behavior in a variety of contexts, it is not clear what type of comparative social information is most effective. Using a large-scale field experiment to study driving practices, we sent text messages containing different types of social information to drivers in Tsingtao, China. We find two types of social information to be particularly effective in reducing traffic violations: the driving behavior of those similar to oneself and the driving behavior of those with high-status cars. Our results indicate that the combination of descriptive norms with social status is a cost-effective yet powerful intervention for establishing better driving behavior in emerging markets.