An experimental study of grouped multi-attribute reverse auctions

Bidding evaluation mechanism is a key factor on the fairness of bidding and resource allocation. In practices, grouped multi-attribute bidding evaluation is the popular mechanism. In this approach, we combine behavior operation management and experimental economics in order to optimize current mechanism. To study the bid evaluation behaviors of grouped referees, we describe the model of grouped multi-attribute auction at first. Then, the existent problems in current bid evaluation mechanism of two groups are discussed and analyzed. We will describe the design of role-playing experiment and the results of an experiment analyzing the referee experts´ behavior. The data from the results of behavior experiment show that it is easy to generate the antagonism with two groups of referee experts, as long as there are strong negative correlations between attributes. To reduce the antagonistic feelings of two referee groups, three improvement measures are proposed finally.