Cooking Up Cooperation: The Influence of Trust on In-Group Favoritism

Many works highlighted the role of identity in promoting in-group favoritism, reporting however contrasting empirical results when such behavior entails a personal cost. This paper studies the occurrence of in-group favoritism within and across communities with heterogeneous generalized trust. It uses data from an Italian TV show where four restaurant owners compete to be declared the best in a certain food category. Results point to a higher degree of in-group favoritism in high-trust than in low-trust communities, while no comparable pattern emerges for behavior towards out-group members. These findings suggest that priming group identity does not necessarily lead to an increase of in-group favoritism. Rather, this mechanism is mediated by the characteristics of the local environment in which individuals operate.