Cross-national Evidence Research Articles

Is something rotten in the state of Denmark? Cross-national evidence for widespread involvement but not systematic use of questionable research practices across all fields of research.

Questionable research practices (QRP) are believed to be widespread, but empirical assessments are generally restricted to a few types of practices. Furthermore, conceptual confusion is rife with use and prevalence of QRPs often being confused as the same quantity. We present the hitherto most comprehensive study examining QRPs across scholarly fields and knowledge production modes. We survey perception, use, prevalence and predictors of QRPs among 3,402 researchers in Denmark and 1,307 in the UK, USA, Croatia and Austria. Results reveal remarkably similar response patterns among Danish and international respondents (τ = 0.85). Self-reported use indicates whether respondents have used a QRP in recent publications. 9 out of 10 respondents admitted using at least one QRP. Median use is three out of nine QRP items. Self-reported prevalence reflects the frequency of use. On average, prevalence rates were roughly three times lower compared to self-reported use. Findings indicated that the perceived social acceptability of QRPs influenced self-report patterns. Results suggest that most researchers use different types of QRPs within a restricted time period. The prevalence estimates, however, do not suggest outright systematic use of specific QRPs. Perceived pressure was the strongest systemic predictor for prevalence. Conversely, more local attention to research cultures and academic age was negatively related to prevalence. Finally, the personality traits conscientiousness and, to a lesser degree, agreeableness were also inversely associated with self-reported prevalence. Findings suggest that explanations for engagement with QRPs are not only attributable to systemic factors, as hitherto suggested, but a complicated mixture of experience, systemic and individual factors, and motivated reasoning.

Cross-national evidence for political philosophers’ civic behavior

ABSTRACT The moral behavior of philosophers has gained notable attention in recent years as a robust means of exploring the relationship between moral reflection and behavior. These studies post that if philosophers, who are deeply engaged with moral reflection, do not act more ethically, we should not expect moral reflection to affect the behavior of lay people. Overall, these studies find no evidence that philosophers (including moral ones) behave in a more ethical way than others, except for evidence regarding vegetarianism. In this study, we utilize data on philosophers (N = 1,376) from eight European countries, the largest sample to date, to examine this relationship. In line with previous studies, we assume the moral worth of civic engagement but use a wider set of five civic behaviors. In contrast to previous studies, we find systematically higher levels of civic engagement (except in the case of voting) among political philosophers in all eight countries, even after controlling education level, gender, age, and immigration status. We further propose two explanations – the norm and the domain-specific propositions – that might reconcile our findings with those of prior studies. These findings can provide a refreshing direction for future research in this field.

Conspiracy Beliefs and Perceptions of Electoral Integrity: Cross-National Evidence from 29 Countries

Abstract Extant research shows that belief in conspiracy theories and conspiratorial thinking are negatively related to citizens’ perceptions about the fairness and integrity of elections. However, by exclusively focusing on the United States as only one important empirical case, previous studies have left unanswered crucial questions on the scope, generalizability, and context dependency of their empirical findings. In this research note, I aim to fill this void by providing first empirical evidence on the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and electoral-integrity perceptions across twenty-nine countries. Using high-quality individual-level data from the European Social Survey enriched with contextual-level data on the quality of elections taken from the Varieties of Democracy Project, the findings from linear mixed-effects regression models reveal that (1) conspiracy beliefs are negatively related to citizens’ evaluations concerning the integrity of national elections; (2) the specific strength of the observed individual-level relationship varies substantially across countries; and (3) the relationship between conspiracy beliefs and individual electoral-integrity perceptions depends on the contextual-level quality and integrity of elections across countries. Specifically, the results indicate that the negative relationship between conspiracy beliefs and electoral-integrity perceptions is strongest in contexts in which the actual quality of elections is high, and in which citizens have little reason to (seriously) doubt the integrity of the electoral process. These findings provide an important and hitherto missing cross-national and multilevel perspective on the nexus between individual conspiracy beliefs and electoral-integrity perceptions, highlighting that the “conspiratorial challenge” to electoral legitimacy in contemporary democracies is real and more than an “American affliction.”

Examining the Relationship Between Dispositional News Literacy and Discernment of Real and Misleading News: Cross-national Evidence

Examining the Relationship Between Dispositional News Literacy and Discernment of Real and Misleading News: Cross-national Evidence

Cyber scares and prophylactic policies: Crossnational evidence on the effect of cyberattacks on public support for surveillance

While conventional terrorism has long been associated with enhanced support for surveillance, scholars have not determined whether variation in the type and outcome of terror attacks, including those emanating from cyberspace, influences public support for these policies. Further, existing studies typically examine public opinion in a single country, thereby failing to investigate cross-national trends in support for surveillance. In this article, we outline a theoretical relationship between cyberattacks and support for surveillance measures and then, through survey experiments conducted in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel, explore whether variation in both the type (conventional or cyberterrorism) and outcome (non-lethal or lethal outcomes) of attacks influences support for a range of surveillance tactics. We find that while participants do not base their support for surveillance on attack type or outcome and do not differentiate between surveillance tactics when formulating their preferences, there are considerable cross-national differences in support. Participants from Israel generally responded more favorably to all forms of surveillance, independent of experimental treatment, with British respondents demonstrating high levels of support for CCTV cameras. American respondents, however, were generally less supportive of surveillance measures across treatments, with the differences being most notable in their relative reluctance to support the use of CCTV cameras. These findings have important implications not only for the sustainability of national policies but also for international collaboration to manage emerging risks.

Shushing the press shortens lives: cross-national evidence of the impact of press freedom on life expectancy.

Press freedom around the globe has deteriorated over the past decade, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper explores the effect of press freedom, as a cornerstone of democracy, on life expectancy. Exploring cross-country data, we use the ordinary least square method to estimate the association between press freedom and life expectancy. In addition, we adopt three novel instrumental variables to explore the causal relationship. Our estimations indicate that a freer press leads to higher life expectancy, and the effect exists independently of the level of democracy. In addition, the effect of continuous exposure to press freedom is stronger than sporadic free press status. The results are robust to measurement errors, influential outliers, and country-specific heterogeneity. This study reveals the fundamental role of press freedom in promoting public health that was previously underexplored. Therefore, enhancing freedom of expression can be an effective tool to address three of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, that is, reduce under-five mortality, improve maternal health, and combat HIV/AIDS.JEL:I1 H7 D02.

Does gender matter in ethical leadership perceptions? Cross-national evidence

Last decade’s ethical leadership failures in business across the globe had severe ramifications, including bankruptcy for corporations that had previously been viewed as exemplary. Hence, ethical leadership has gained increased attention from both practitioners and researchers. In particular, the increased focus has been placed on ethical leadership perceptions in management settings. This paper presents empirical findings from a three-country experiment (N = 538) on the perceptions of ethical and unethical leadership, and how they interact with gender. Building on role congruity theory, we posit that female leaders encounter more severe criticism for unethical leadership compared to male leaders, but they also garner greater positive reactions for ethical leadership. We also hypothesize the existence of national differences in ethical leadership perceptions. Our results indicate that the rater’s perceptions are influenced by the gender of the leader they are rating and by ethical leadership. The rater’s gender, however, does not affect the evaluation of male and female leaders in the cultures examined. We have also found national differences among perceptions of ethical leadership, in line with the Corruption Perception Index. We further explore the consequences of these results for theoretical and practical applications in this paper and propose directions for future research.

Social identity and IPSAS adoption: cross-national evidence

IMPACT The authors explain why policy-makers and regulators in countries with diverse populations should be considering ways to encourage IPSAS adoption. A cross-country dataset of 106 countries was used to demonstrate the negative impact of cultural diversity and IPSAS adoption. Cross-pollination of ideas in ethnically diverse societies should be used to develop mechanisms that enhance communication across different ethnic groups. Policy-makers should consider the differences in language and communication styles that can obstruct knowledge transfer.

Belt and road initiative membership and voting patterns in the United Nations General Assembly

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is not only an unprecedented cross-continental infrastructure investment program, it is also a key pillar of China’s foreign policy. The Chinese government seeks to tie BRI member states closer to its political system and to enhance its soft power across the globe. Whether this has been successful has been analyzed for individual countries but, as of yet, there is a paucity of cross-national evidence on the geopolitical impact of the BRI. We collected a novel global dataset on bilateral cooperation agreements with China in the context of the BRI for all states across the globe. We rely on voting similarities in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to analyze whether the decision to join the BRI is linked to geopolitical alignment with China. We apply generalized synthetic control models and community detection algorithms to estimate the impact of BRI membership on voting similarity to China. Our findings show that the signature of BRI membership agreements had no discernible short-term impact on voting similarity to China in most regions of the world. The exception is Europe, where BRI membership induced a backlash against China. Our findings suggest that European states counter-balance to the US and signal their independence from China after signing a BRI agreement.

Gender affinity effects between female voters and women leaders in parliamentary elections: Cross-national evidence (1996-2016)

An increasing amount of literature has demonstrated that party leaders affect voting behavior in parliamentary elections. However, the electoral impact of female leadership of political parties has been under-researched. The gender affinity hypothesis suggests that when women run for presidential or prime ministerial office, women are more likely than men to vote for them. Using data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems project, we tested gender affinity effects between female voters and female party leaders in mixed-sex legislative elections, that is, elections involving at least one female party candidate for prime minister, in parliamentary and semi-presidential systems. We analyzed 50 elections held from 1996 to 2016 in 24 countries. The results showed that female leaders were better evaluated by women and that women were more likely than men to vote for them. However, the gender affinity effects were small and not largely conditioned or not conditioned at all by other factors, such as some voters’ characteristics and electoral setting.

Examining the association between social media fatigue, cognitive ability, narcissism and misinformation sharing: cross-national evidence from eight countries

Several studies have explored the causes and consequences of public engagement with misinformation and, more recently, COVID-19 misinformation. However, there is still a need to understand the mechanisms that cause misinformation propagation on social media. In addition, evidence from non-Western societies remains rare. This study reports on survey evidence from eight countries to examine whether social media fatigue can influence users to believe misinformation, influencing their sharing intentions. Our insights also build on prior cognitive and personality literature by exploring how this mechanism is conditional upon users’ cognitive ability and narcissism traits. The results suggest that social media fatigue can influence false beliefs of misinformation which translates into sharing on social media. We also find that those with high levels of cognitive ability are less likely to believe and share misinformation. However, those with low cognitive ability and high levels of narcissism are most likely to share misinformation on social media due to social media fatigue. This study is one of the first to provide cross-national comparative evidence highlighting the adverse effects of social media fatigue on misinformation propagation and establishing that the relationship is not universal but dependent on both cognitive and dark personality traits of individuals.

Globalization, foreign direct investment, and child mortality: A cross-national analysis of less-developed countries, 1990–2019

Social scientists have long debated the impacts of foreign investment for developing countries. However, the relationship between foreign investment and child mortality is still heavily contested among comparative international social scientists despite decades of research. I bring new cross-national evidence to bear on this contested debate, where the competing arguments of neoclassical economic theory and foreign investment dependency theory are evaluated using fixed effects, dynamic, and two-stage least squares panel regression models. I find that inward foreign direct investment stock exerts a beneficial effect on child mortality in less-developed countries, net of relevant statistical controls. These results are also robust to a variety of regression diagnostics and alternative choices of econometric specification. These findings contribute to a growing body of literature finding that traditional sociological measures of foreign direct investment—in some cases—generate beneficial effects in less-developed countries.

Role of Women Directors in Strengthening Board Committees: Cross National Evidence

Role of Women Directors in Strengthening Board Committees: Cross National Evidence

The satisfaction of basic psychological needs mediates the relation between perfectionism and sport performance: a longitudinal cross-national investigation

ABSTRACT Using a cross-national approach, we focused on sport perfectionism among university athletes from two Western countries (i.e., Italy and Spain). We examined a guiding theoretical model in which sport perfectionism influenced athletes’ experience of their own performance through the intervening effects of their basic psychological needs’ satisfaction (BPN). We collected data on the short version of the “Multidimensional Inventory of Perfectionism in Sport” (MIPS) from athletes in both countries and first examined the country measurement invariance of the instrument. We then conducted a second study on a subsample of athletes from study 1 to examine the statistical tenets and the country invariance of the guiding theoretical model. Overall, we found support to the guiding hypotheses. Study 1 findings showed that the MIPS had good psychometric properties and was invariant across countries (i.e., MIPS items had similar meaning among Italian and Spanish athletes). Study 2 findings overall showed support across countries for the guiding model. Athletes with relatively high levels of perfectionistic strivings, later showed greater levels of BPN satisfaction and this, in turn, positively influenced their personal experience of performance. On the contrary, athletes with relatively high levels of perfectionistic concerns, later showed lower levels of BPN satisfaction and this, in turn, negatively influenced their personal experience of performance. This investigation provides initial cross-national evidence for possible mediation mechanisms that may underpin the relations between perfectionism and performance.

Gender and job satisfaction in OECD countries

Gender differences in labour market outcomes are frequently reported. Earlier findings on associations of job satisfaction and gender reveal mixed results. Majority of empirical results indicate that women report higher levels of job satisfaction than men whereas others find no gender differences in job satisfaction. This study explores gender differences in job satisfaction by utilizing the Survey of Adult Skills for OECD countries. Employing the Balanced Worth Vector (BWV) procedure for data analysis, this study contributes to literature by presenting additional cross-national evidence from various regions of the world. Our findings reveal that there are heterogeneities in gender-gap paradox of job satisfaction across OECD countries.

International charitable connections: Variation in the countries of operation of overseas charities

AbstractCharities are long-established and increasingly prominent non-state actors in social policy. However, these organisations remain understudied within social policy research, particularly their presence in the delivery of global social policy. This paper provides new cross-national evidence about charities operating internationally. It makes use of a comprehensive administrative dataset covering the country of operation of every overseas charity registered in England and Wales, Australia, and Canada. The international connections of charities are extensive, and these organisations are much more likely to work in countries with shared colonial and linguistic ties, and less likely to work in those with poor governance or high levels of corruption. This paper goes beyond a binary focus on either “developing” or “developed” country contexts, and provides insight into the international connections of “non-elite” as well as “elite” social policy actors.

How Family Firms In Indonesia Re-Initiate Strategies During Covid 19 Pandemies : Empirical Initial Evidence From 5 Provinces In Java Island

Purpose – Within a very short period of time, the worldwide pandemic triggered by the novel coronavirus has not only claimed numerous lives but also caused severe limitations to daily private as well as business life. Just about every company has been affected in one way or another. This first empirical study on the
 effects of the COVID-19 crisis on family firms allows initial conclusions to be drawn about family firm crisis management.
 Design/methodology/approach - Exploratory qualitative research design based on 27 semi-structured interviews with key informants of family firms of all sizes in five Western European countries that are in different stages of the crisis.
 Findings – The COVID-19 crisis represents a new type and quality of challenge for companies. These companies are applying measures that can be assigned to three different strategies to adapt to the crisis in the short term and emerge from it stronger in the long run. Our findings show how companies in all industries and of all sizes adapt their business models to changing environmental conditions within a short period of time.
 Finally, the findings also show that the crisis is bringing about a significant yet unintended cultural change. On the one hand, a stronger solidarity and cohesion within the company was observed, while on the other hand, the crisis has led to a tentative digitalization.
 Originality/value – To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first empirical study in the management realm on the impacts of COVID-19 on (family) firms. It provides cross-national evidence of family firms’ current reactions to the crisis.

A Cross-National Analysis of School Boards’ Roles and Consequences for School Resources and Student Achievement

The role and impact of school boards vary considerably across contexts. Whereas school boards in some communities provide schools with extra resources, others mandate instructional approaches. Despite the potential importance of school boards for school resources and student achievement, related single-country research is limited, and cross-national evidence is even more scarce. Using data from the 2012 PISA and 2013 TALIS, we examine cross-national differences in school board presence, composition, and responsibilities, and their relationship with school resources and student achievement. We find that schools in countries with a higher proportion of school boards have less shortage of school-based human resources and higher levels of academic achievement. We also find that students in countries where a higher proportion of local community members participate in school boards have lower levels of achievement; in contrast, school board participation by parents is positively related to student achievement.

Politics matters for individual attitudes toward vaccine donation: cross-national evidence from the United States and Taiwan

BackgroundVaccine equity has been a major concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the principle of vaccine equity, donor countries should apply the criterion of needs to make decisions about vaccine donation instead of considering recipient countries’ economic status. We examine whether people follow the same criterion or consider other factors to decide which country to donate vaccines and how many vaccines should be delivered.MethodsWe conducted online surveys with the design of conjoint experiment in the United States and Taiwan in 2021. 1,532 American citizens and 1,587 Taiwanese citizens were interviewed. The respondents were broadly quota-matched to their respective demographic proportions on the dimensions of age, gender, and education. We estimated the average marginal component effects (AMCEs) of the conjoint attributes by using the OLS regression models with standard errors clustered at the respondent level.Results15,320 and 15,870 decisions on vaccine donation generated by conjoint experiment respectively in the United States and Taiwan were included in the analysis. Both American and Taiwanese people tend to donate vaccines to countries that suffer severe consequences of COVID-19 and democracies compared to authoritarian countries. However, they are less willing to donate vaccines to those with higher levels of capability in response to COVID-19. Taiwanese people tend to donate vaccines to countries having formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan (AMCE 13.4%, 95% CI 11.8%-15.1%). Nonetheless, American people would rather donate vaccines to countries without formal diplomatic relations with the United States (AMCE − 4.0%, 95% CI -5.6%--2.4%).ConclusionsThe findings reveal that politics plays a significant role in people’s decisions about vaccine donation. Under electoral pressure, political leaders must think about how to respond to the public’s preferences over vaccine donation to achieve vaccine equity and address the global health crisis.

The economic growth effects of foreign direct investment in developing countries, 1980–2019

The foreign investment and economic growth relationship in developing countries have attracted considerable attention in comparative international sociology. However, despite nearly fifty years of research, this relationship is still not well understood. I bring new cross-national evidence to bear upon this issue with analyses that improve upon previous research on the foreign direct investment and economic growth nexus in developing countries. I analyze cross-national longitudinal data using panel regression models with fixed effects and instrumental variables to account for possible endogeneity. Foreign capital penetration appears to be positively associated with economic growth in developing countries, which supports the expectations of neoclassical economic theory. Rather than critiquing any particular theoretical paradigm, this research hopefully serves to help reinvigorate scholarly discussion amongst comparative international social scientists regarding the economic growth effects of foreign direct investment in developing countries.