Indigenous Praise-Singing Exposure and Public-Goods Contributions in Ghanaian Chieftaincy Assemblies: A Lab-in-the-Field Experiment on Status Accountability and Free-Riding

Praise-singing in Ghanaian chieftaincy assemblies is conventionally read as ceremonial affirmation of rank, yet its behavioural consequences for collective contribution remain unexamined. The design tests whether praise-singing operates as a status-accountability cue that reduces free-riding by making high-status beneficiaries of public goods salient, or as a status-affirmation cue that licenses free-riding by flattering the praised. Participants were 384 men and women drawn from six chieftaincy areas in the Ashanti and Upper East Regions. Praise directed at the chief raised average contributions by 18.4 per cent relative to the no-praise control (p < 0.01), while praise directed at the participant produced no significant change (p = 0.41). The effect was concentrated among participants who reported strong normative obligations to the chief and was absent among those reporting weak obligations. The findings support a status-accountability interpretation of praise-singing and identify the mechanism through which an indigenous communicative form regulates collective action in chieftaincy institutions.