Heterogeneous Responses to Norm Violation: An Exit-Voice Framework

Abstract

Exit and voice are two opposite ways to respond to adverse effects. This dichotomy also describes responses to norm violation. Some violations of norms are actively sanctioned, while others are met with exit or passive sanctions. My dissertation provides a systematic examination of heterogeneous responses to norm violations. Through the case of user responses to toxic comments on Wikipedia, I demonstrate the degree and forms of heterogeneity in active sanctions and exit outcomes respectively. I further evaluate how the mechanism of network density, which used to predict the rate of sanctioning in the literature, explains the choice of the type of sanctions. My study finds both theoretical and empirical support for heterogeneity in responses to norm violations. It shows valuable insights about norm enforcement which are missed by the past studies with a homogenous view of sanctions. The heterogeneity perspective has further implications for the mechanisms of different responses and the conditions when norm enforcement works and when it gives way to exit. The findings of this study contribute to the literature of norm enforcement, as well as conversation analysis and online content moderation.