Communication and advice-taking: evidence from a laboratory experiment

We use a laboratory experiment with a focus on communication frequency and content to explore social learning. The experiment varied group composition by ability and included a randomized information treatment. We examine how information about own and peers’ abilities affects communication frequency and content, and assess how perceptions about own and others’ abilities correlates with advice taking. We find that knowing group members’ abilities reduces the need for communication and recognizing others’ abilities correlates with how much advice participants take. This suggests that benefits of social learning depend on group ability structures and the opportunity to communicate with one another.