Strategic Polarization in Group Interactions
研究了群体成员为影响集体决策而采取比自身偏好更极端行为的策略性极化现象，分析了同时行动、随机顺序行动及内生顺序行动对极化的影响，为设计缓和极化的机制提供参考。
The authors study the phenomenon of strategic group polarization, in which members take more extreme actions than their preferences. The analysis is relevant for a broad range of formal and informal group settings, including social media, online platforms, sales teams, corporate and academic committees, and political action committees. In the model, agents with private preferences choose a public action (voice opinions), and the mean of their actions represents the group’s realized outcome. The agents face a trade-off between influencing the group decision and truth-telling. In a simultaneous-move game, agents strategically shade their actions toward the extreme. The strategic group influence motive can create substantial polarization in actions and group decisions even when the preferences are relatively moderate. Compared with a simultaneous game, a randomized-sequential-actions game lowers polarization when agents’ preferences are relatively similar. Sequential actions can even lead to moderation if the later agents have moderate preferences. Endogenizing the order of moves (through a first-price sealed-bid auction) always increases polarization, but it is also welfare enhancing. These findings can help group leaders, firms, and platforms design mechanisms that moderate polarization, such as the choice of speaking order, the group size, and the knowledge members have of others’ preferences and actions.