Practice what you preach: Credibility-enhancing displays and the growth of open science

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.10.009Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Open science practices (preregistration, open data/materials) are rare and costly.

  • Open science therefore resembles a non-normative social dilemma.

  • Cooperation interventions rely on normativity, and ‘virtue signaling’ is tempting.

  • We describe theory and results supporting a solution: “practice what you preach”

  • We advocate visible open science (OSF badges), especially by prestigious scientists.

Abstract

How can individual scientists most effectively spread the adoption of open science practices? Engaging in open science practices presents a social dilemma because they are individually costly (given the current incentive schemes in academia) but collectively beneficial (due to production of higher quality and more accessible science). Mechanisms for promoting cooperation in social dilemmas typically rely on normativity—but open science practices are still comparatively rare. Further, individuals may be tempted to dishonestly “virtue signal” due to growing support for open science. We formulate a solution based on the theory of credibility-enhancing displays: advocates who are known to themselves practice the behavior they are advocating for (particularly if they are prestigious) are more effective at convincing others—specifically because their actions provide an honest signal of their belief in the behavior’s value. Thus, advocates for open science practices should find ways to engage in those practices visibly and often.

Keywords

Open science
Social norms
Credibility-enhancing displays
Prestige
Social dilemma
Cooperation
Virtue signaling

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This article is an invited submission. It is part of the special issue “Best Practices in Open Science,” Edited by Don Moore and Stefan Thau.