Can you hear me? Video conferencing and cooperation in the collective action problem

Digital communication has become an essential tool for many aspects of people’s lives. During the unprecedented experience of digital living since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of digital communication has been massively increased. Particularly, video conferencing became a dominant tool of communication for organising people’s work and life because it can mimic face-to-face (F2F) interaction the most. It may gain its importance even further as remote working might increase in the future. However, little is known how video conferencing affects group behaviour such as cooperation. As increasingly our society is transitioning to remote working and living, it is crucial to understand the implications of video conferencing on collective living in a common society.

This project examines cooperation in a collective action problem when communication through F2F and video conferencing is allowed in large groups.