Abstract:-

Many of the decisions we make are significantly shaped by advice from others. Despite this, limited research has explored whose advice we are more inclined to follow and how this influences social outcomes. In a lab-in-the-field survey experiment with approximately 3000 farmers in India, we examine whether the status and identity of the advisor influences cooperative behaviour. Our findings indicate that the advisor’s identity does not influence the likelihood of following advice when the advice promotes pro-social outcomes. However, identity does affect the willingness to follow advice when the advice has negative social consequences. Investigating mechanisms, we find that women are more inclined to adopt the (selfish) equilibrium strategy when advised by men, while advisees are more likely to make socially sub-optimal choices if the advisor shares their caste identity. A natural experiment allows us to separate the impact of status and identity and shows that previous exposure to role models neutralizes the influence of gender but accentuates the impact of caste identity. We validate the generalizability of our results using data from an agricultural advisory program involving the same sample