The Influence Of Leader By Example On Intergenerational Cooperation

With the acceleration of the social industrialization process,many urgent problems in society involve the allocation of resources among multiple generations.In order to achieve sustainable development of resources and benefit future generations,we need not only to cooperate within the same generation,but also across generations.Intergenerational cooperation refers to the behavior of current generations creating benefits for future generations in decision-making.Previous research has focused on the dilemma of reciprocity between peer group members,exploring the influence of leader by example on group cooperation level,and the reciprocity theory explains its mechanism.However,in the intergenerational dilemma where there is no reciprocity between peer group members and intergenerational groups,does leader by example also affect the level of intergenerational cooperation in the group? If there is an influence,what mechanism can explain the impact of leader by example on intergenerational cooperation? This study designed three experiments to explore how leader by example affects the intergenerational cooperative behavior of followers from the perspective of social norms.Experiment 1(N =185)used a single-factor three-level within-subjects design to explore how leader by example influenced the level of intergenerational cooperation and social norm perception of participants.All players had the same initial tokens,and based on the amount of contribution of the leader by example in the intergenerational game,we divided the leader by example into three different types: selfish,equal,and generous.In the experiment,participants observed the decisions made by the All players had different initial tokens,and based on the proportion of the contribution of leader by example as followers,and then decided the number of tokens they would put into the public pool to measure their level of intergenerational cooperation.Finally,participants reported how many tokens they perceived that most followers would contribute in each situation to measure their level of social norm perception.In addition,we defined the influence of leader by example as the difference between the intergenerational cooperation contribution of the participant and that of the leader by example.The results showed that the main effect of leader by example was significant,and the level of intergenerational cooperation of participants increased with the increase of the level of intergenerational cooperation of leader by example,and the mediating effect of social norm perception was significant.In addition,the influence of selfish leader by example on followers was stronger than that of generous leader by example.Experiment 2(N =109)used a mixed experimental design of 2(pro-social norm:present,absent)×3(leader by example: selfish,equal,generous)to explore how the level of intergenerational cooperation and social norm perception of participants were influenced by leader by example and pro-social norm.The results showed that the main effect of leader by example was significant,and the level of intergenerational cooperation of participants as followers increased with the increase of the level of intergenerational cooperation of leader by example.The main effect of pro-social norm was significant,and the level of intergenerational cooperation of participants was higher under the condition of pro-social norm than under the condition of no pro-social norm.The interaction effect between leader by example and pro-social norm was significant,and the level of intergenerational cooperation of participants was higher in the situation with pro-social norm only under the conditions of selfish and equal leader by example.Experiment 3(N =90)used a mixed experimental design of 2(pro-social norm:present,absent)×3(leader by example: selfish,equal,generous)to further explore the influence of leader by example and social norms on intergenerational cooperation when resources are asymmetric.All players had different initial tokens,and based on the proportion of the contribution of the leader by example in the intergenerational game,we divided the leader by example into three different types: selfish,equal,and generous.The results showed that the interaction effect between leader by example and pro-social norm was significant,and the level of intergenerational cooperation of participants was higher in the situation with pro-social norm only under the condition of selfish leader by example.In summary,this study revealed the influence of leader by example on intergenerational cooperation and the mediating role of social norm perception.Regardless of whether resources were symmetric or asymmetric,the level of intergenerational cooperation of participants as followers increased with the increase of the level of intergenerational cooperation of leader by example.Prosocial norms can effectively improve the level of intergenerational cooperation under the selfish leader by example condition,but have no significant effect on the level of intergenerational cooperation under the generous leader by example.In addition,the influence of generous leader by example is weaker than that of selfish leader by example,which has certain limitations.This study provides new ideas for effectively promoting intergenerational cooperative behavior,and has certain reference value for promoting sustainable development of human society.