Effects Of Social Norms Research Articles

The Effects of Power and Social Norms on Power Decision Making

Power, as an important and long-term research topic of politics field, has attracted extensive attention. In recent years, power has become a hot research field of social psychology. Power as a kind of psychological variables, affects the individual’s cognition, emotion and behavior. At present, the opinion that power affects individual decisions, attracts more and more attention of researchers. Among many factors that affect the individual’s decision behavior, social environment and group’s role cannot be ignored. The research takes the game experiment to study decision, form the sense of social norms and power, recruiting 124 students in University, starting high level and low level of power respectively, then displaying descriptive social norms. Next, game experiment begins, observing differences between subjects facing different forms of power in the course of the game to make choices and decisions. The results show that the sense of power level and social norms influence power decision-making behavior. The sense of power has a significant influence on the acquisition of the blue symbol (legitimacy) and the acquisition and use of the red symbol (force) (p ve a significant influence on the acquisition of the red symbol (force) and the acquisition and use of the blue symbol (legitimacy) (p p < 0.05). The result shows that the higher power people use more force to satisfy their own needs, and the lower authority uses more legitimacy to satisfy their own needs.

Religion, Crime, and Financial Reporting

The literature provides evidence on the separate roles of injunctive and descriptive norms in explaining corporate financial reporting, ignoring that descriptive norms are likely endogenous and partly explained by injunctive norms. We jointly analyze the direct and indirect effects of religious social norms (an injunctive norm) via local crime rates (a descriptive norm) on financial reporting quality. We find that religious social norms relate negatively to corporate earnings management and tax avoidance. We also show that this association is partially explained by crime rates in the firm’s geographical environment, underlining the indirect relation between religious social norms and financial reporting quality. Overall, the study highlights the importance of considering the interrelations between injunctive and descriptive norms when analyzing the effect of norms on corporate decisionmaking.

Implicit attitudes and explicit cognitions jointly predict a reduced red meat intake: a three-wave longitudinal study

ABSTRACT Background: Despite nutritional benefits, a high consumption of red meat is not without risks as it is linked to the development of certain types of cancer as well as to other non-communicable diseases, such as type II diabetes or cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, the production of meat has negative effects on the environment. Therefore, a transition to a less meat-based diet could be beneficial. It is unclear how explicit cognitions towards red meat consumption and implicit attitudes jointly influence intention and consumption. We tested the additive pattern (both types of cognitions explain unique variance) and interactive pattern (both types interact in the prediction). Method: At baseline (T0; N = 1790) and one (T1; n = 980) and three months thereafter (T2; n = 556), explicit cognitions, red meat consumption, and implicit attitudes were assessed among a Dutch sample. Results: Only explicit cognitions were associated with red meat consumption. Implicit attitudes moderated the effect of self-efficacy on T0-RMC; negative implicit attitudes strengthened this effect. T0-intention was associated with explicit cognitions and implicit attitudes. Additionally, negative implicit attitudes strengthened the effect of social norms on T0 and T2-intention. Regarding red meat consumption, support for the interactive pattern was found. For intention there was support for the interactive and additive pattern. Conclusion: Interventions aiming to reduce red meat consumption in the general public might profit from changing implicit attitudes in addition to explicit cognitions.

Social Norms and Competitiveness: My Willingness to Compete Depends on Who I am (Supposed to Be)

Women often respond less favorably to competition than men. In this paper, we test for the effects of social norms on willingness to compete. Subjects compete in two-person teams. In the treatment, one team member is randomly assigned the role of “breadwinner”, and the other person is randomly assigned as the “supporter”. There are no real differences between the roles in our experiment, except for the framing. These two roles have opposite social norms for competitiveness, reminiscent of gender roles in western society. In the baseline, subjects compete in two-person teams without role assignment. We find women’s willingness to compete significantly increases when they are assigned as breadwinners compared to women in the base- line or female supporters. We also find that there is no gender gap in willingness to compete between female breadwinners and males in the baseline. The increase in willingness to compete is mainly contributed by high-ability women. Males are also affected by the role assignment; male supporters are less likely to enter the tournament than male breadwinners. We argue that the changes in willingness to compete are mainly driven by the social norms implied by the two roles.

Unraveling the “Social” in Social Norms: The Conditioning Effect of User Connectivity

Operating on the basic principle of “telling people about what lots of other people do,” social norms interventions have demonstrated efficacy in inducing behavior change in diverse settings. However, very few studies examine how the effect of social norms is differentially manifest across individuals, especially in the contemporary socially connected digital world. We provide new empirical evidence from a randomized field experiment that included more than 7,000 individuals on an online physical activity community observed for a two-month period. We find that connectivity plays an important role in moderating the effectiveness of social norms: individuals with higher levels of social connectivity are more susceptible to a social norms message. Additional analysis reveals that individuals who engage in information sharing (high followers and low followees) are the most susceptible to the social norms message. This study has important implications for the effective and safe use of social norms in nudging people’s behavior. Our finding that social norms do not affect all users equally should help optimize interventions by focusing on users with high susceptibility based on easily observable measures.

Improving Public Acceptance of Carbon Capture and Storage(CCS) in China

Carbon Capture and Storage(CCS) refers to a set of technologies that can be installed for the reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in power generation and industrial processes. CCS is a priority option for China to combat climate change, but its public acceptance remains a bottleneck for its promotion. This study explored the influences of social norm effects and framing effects on improving CCS public acceptance in China. A randomized control trial (RCT) experiment of 2 (with vs. without social norms) × 2 (gain vs. loss frames ) was conducted in an online survey. The results revealed that social normative information exerted significant effects on improving participants’ CCS acceptance level, whereas framed information had no salient influences on participants’ attitudes. The advantages of social norms are inspiring and recommendable for China’s CCS public communication strategies.

Crafting messages to fight dishonesty: A field investigation of the effects of social norms and watching eye cues on fare evasion

The impact of watching eyes cues and descriptive social norm messages on fare evasion was studied in two experiments that were conducted in two railway stations in France. In Study 1, a natural field experiment, passengers were exposed for a two-week period to either a control eye-cues poster or to an experimental eye-cues with a social norm messaging campaign. In Study 2, an artefactual experiment in the field, participants in the experimental train station were asked to participate in a lying task before and after they were exposed to the messaging campaign. The results from both studies suggest that although watching eye cues alone are not effective in a crowded train station, exposing passengers to watching eye cues together with a descriptive social norm messaging campaign reduced the fare evasion rates observed by standard inspection operations, and eliminated lying behavior measured by the die-under-cup paradigm. These results strengthen the external validity of laboratory experiments that have documented small scale cheating behavior and highlight the potential benefits of internal enforcement techniques to fight dishonesty in the field. In addition, they stress the advantage of combining visibility cues and social norms when orienting people toward more moral behavior.

A meta-analysis of field-experiments using social norms to promote pro-environmental behaviors

Highlights • We conducted a meta-analysis on field-experiments using social norms to encourage pro-environmental behaviors. • Results of 91 field-experiments (N = 227′730) revealed a positive main effect of social norms on pro-environmental behaviors compared to no-treatment control conditions. • Moderation analysis found that social norms induced implicitly were more influential than social norms induced explicitly and that social norms tended to be more influential in individualistic countries than in collectivistic countries.

The Effects of Social Norms and Perceived Benefits on Purchase Intention for the Fashion Products of Social Enterprises

The Effects of Social Norms and Perceived Benefits on Purchase Intention for the Fashion Products of Social Enterprises

The long-term effectiveness of a social norming campaign to reduce high-risk drinking: The Michigan State University experience, 2000–2014

Objective Evaluate effectiveness of a university-wide social norms marketing campaign to reduce high-risk drinking and its consequences among students at MSU. Participants: Campaign messages regarding descriptive and injunctive norms were distributed campus-wide from 2001 to 2014 to correct norm misperceptions. Methods: Random samples of students surveyed most semesters to monitor message saturation, dosage, and believability along with drinking attitudes, behaviors and harm related to celebratory events. NCHA conducted biennially since 2000 to assess overall progress. Results: Perceived drinking norms declined along with measures of actual drinking intensity, frequency, and frequency of intense drinking. Use of protective behaviors most often addressed in campaign messages increased while driving after drinking declined. Importantly, reported adverse effects of drinking on academic performance declined substantially. Conclusions: The evidence suggests the social norms approach has been effective at reducing adverse academic outcomes of drinking. Changes in perceptions, attitudes, behaviors and outcomes appear to be continuing.

The effect of Knowledge, Perceived Usefulness and Social norms on Intention to Prepare Integrated Reporting in SMEs

The objective of the paper is to explore the influence of knowledge on an intention to prepare Integrated Reporting (IR), with social norms as the moderating variable and perceived usefulness as the mediating variable. This study used a questionnaire survey to collect data from some SME owners. Before filling out the questionnaire, the SME owners were given training on Integrated Reporting. The sampling technique used is quota sampling. This study was conducted in four cities located in East Java Province. In each of these cities, thirty SME owners were chosen as respondents to be included in the IR training. In total, there were one-hundred, and twenty (120) SME owners participated in this study. Overall, the results indicated that (1) IR knowledge does not affect the intention to prepare IR; (2) IR knowledge significantly affects perceived usefulness; (3) Perceived usefulness significantly affects the intention to develop IR; (4) Perceived usefulness mediates the relationship between IR knowledge and intention to prepare IR; and (5) Social norms moderate relationship between IR knowledge and intention to prepare IR. This paper adds empirical research on the application of IR in SMEs, which is still rarely studied. The practical implication of this study emphasizes the importance of the government or professional institutions to develop an IR standard for SMEs.

The causes and consequences of early-adult unemployment: Evidence from cohort data

We here use the employment-history data from the British Cohort Study to calculate an individual's total experience of unemployment from the time they left education up to age 30. We show that, conditional on current unemployment, this experience is negatively correlated with the life satisfaction that the individual reports at age 30, so that past unemployment scars. We also identify the childhood circumstances and family background that predict this adult unemployment experience. Educational achievement and good behaviour at age 16 both reduce adult unemployment experience, and emotional health at age 16 is a particularly strong predictor of unemployment experience for women. Both boys and girls reproduce on average their parents’ unemployment, so that adult unemployment experience is transmitted between generations. We uncover evidence of a social-norm effect: children from less-advantaged backgrounds both experience more adult unemployment but are less affected by it in well-being.

The Influence of Social Networks and Norms on Breastfeeding in African American and Caucasian Mothers: A Qualitative Study.

Background: Social networks and subjective norms (individuals' perceptions of what other people think) can be influential in decision-making. Although there are data about the importance of support in initiation and duration of breastfeeding, no studies have explored the influence of women's social networks and the norms within those networks on breastfeeding. Research Aim: To investigate, through qualitative methods, the influence of mothers' social networks and subjective norms, both within and outside of her network, with regard to breastfeeding practices. Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight mothers participated in focus groups or individual interviews. Probing questions concerning breastfeeding intent, initiation, continuation, and support with regard to social networks and subjective norms were asked. Themes were developed in an iterative manner from coded data. Matrix coding queries assessed patterns in the data and compared quotes based on the respondents' race and social network type. Results: General themes that emerged were the importance of breastfeeding experience within one's social network, the influence of the infant's father, handling disagreement within one's network, and the effects of social norms that exist outside of one's network. Mothers described support for breastfeeding from network members as especially important when breastfeeding was not the norm within the network. There were no differences in themes by race or social network type. Conclusion: Breastfeeding behavior is influenced by a mother's social network, regardless of her race or social network type. Even when breastfeeding is not normative within one's social network, by relying on one network member to support them, mothers may be able to resist the opposing norms of their social network. Since breastfeeding is known to be beneficial to infants and mothers, education or interventions to improve breastfeeding rates may be more effective if they include individual network members who can provide strong support to new mothers.

The Determinants of the Abnormal Return on Sin Stocks: Based on Economic Conditions and the Differences in Social Factors

Purpose &#8211; This study is to analyze the determinants of the abnormal return on sin stocks on the basis of the social norm and the neglected-firm effect hypothesis. The social norm and neglected-firm effect are measured by the trading turn-over and the number of reports provided by analyst. Design/methodology/approach &#8211; The data of sin stocks are divided into several subgroups such religion, geographic, economic level of living, and social level. After controlling the firm characteristic variables and the economic trends, the cross sectional panel regression was performed on the trading turn-over and the reporting number provided in the analyst’s reports. Findings &#8211; Result revealed that sin stocks have positive abnormal return, and such stocks, as compared to control group, are underestimated in the market in spite of superior profitability and debt equity ratio. The abnormal returns of sin stocks are explained by the social norm effect rather than the neglected-firm effect under consideration with respect to the economic condition. Research implications or Originality &#8211; Results implicate that investors are reluctant to buy sin stocks because of the negative social perceptions for sin products and therefore sin stocks are underestimated and the expected returns of these stocks are likely to be high. And another implication is that the social norm effect is dominant to explain the abnormal return of sin stocks, and furthermore, it is found that economic level and social corruption level are key determinant to social norm effects.

Green hotel adoption: a personal choice or social pressure?

Purpose This study aims to examine the potential guest perception of green hotel attributes (GHAs) and the underlying mechanism through which GHA perception influences attitude toward green hotels, intention to stay at green hotels and willingness to pay a premium. It also investigates the moderating roles of personal norms and social norms in the influence of GHA perception on identification and trust toward green hotels. Design/methodology/approach A two-stage survey was used to collect data via Prolific Academic. The authors tested the hypotheses on 521 valid responses using the partial least squares method. Findings The results show that identification and trust mediate the effect of GHA perception on attitude, intention to stay and willingness to pay a premium for green hotels. The authors found a positive interaction effect between GHA perception and personal norms on identification and trust and a negative interaction effect between social norms and GHA perception on trust. The interaction effect of GHA perception and social norms on identification is not significant. Originality/value This study presents an integrated framework for green hotel adoption by examining the potential guest perception of GHAs and explores how it fosters positive guest responses. Findings show that GHA perception positively influences potential guest responses through identification (the personal route) and trust (the social route). This study also simultaneously considers personal norms and social norms, together with the effects of their interactions with GHA perception on identification and trust.

How Do Social Norms Affect Financial Decisions? Religion and Insider Trading Profits

We use the controversial aspect of insider trading to analyze the impact of local social norms on insiders’ profits. We argue that religiosity is a source of social norms curbing self-interested behavior and, accordingly, it limits corporate insiders’ opportunistic trading on private information. Our results confirm that trades by insiders in firms located in more religious areas are followed by lower abnormal returns, those insiders are less likely to trade on future earnings news, and their trades are less likely to be opportunistic. The effect is concentrated where the impact of local social norms is expected to be stronger – in geographically focused firms and in trades by officers. Higher religiosity decreases also the probability and volume of trading. We provide several tests to address potential endogeneity and to strengthen identification. Overall, we offer new insights into the effect of social norms on individuals’ financial decisions.

Entrepreneurial Intention of Engineering Students: The Role of Social Norms and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy

This paper examines the impact of entrepreneurial education on intention to undertake entrepreneurial activity in the future. The study is based on a sample of 208 engineering students. Specifically, we explore the contingent effect of social norms on the relationship between entrepreneurial education and intention to undertake entrepreneurial activity, as well as the role of social norms on the association between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. We utilize a comprehensive questionnaire distributed among engineering students. Our findings indicate that entrepreneurial education is positively associated with the intention to undertake entrepreneurial activity, in addition to demonstrating a positive moderation effect role of social norms on the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. The study provides empirical support to devise new educational initiatives that can further support students and young entrepreneurs in their current or future entrepreneurial projects

Bound by Rules: The Extra-Jurisdictional Effects of Regulation and Social Norms

Several strands of empirical work have begun to focus on how institutional change and the actions of institutional actors occurring in one locale can impact organizational behaviour in another. In this paper, we explore how the strategic decision making on the part of supplier firms is shaped by extra-jurisdictional regulative and normative pressures affecting their potential clients. The study’s context is the adoption of practices by suppliers to an industry supported by regulation endorsing private voluntary standards. A novel dataset is utilised which tracks the adoption of green building practices by a panel of 226 architecture studios in Australia from 2008-2015. In line with our theoretical predictions, firms are found to respond to regulation and social norms in jurisdictions where they do not operate but where their prospective clients do. In their responses to extra-jurisdictional regulation, firms are found to vary to an extent that depends on a firm’s relative power, as defined by its embeddness vis-à- vis its potential clients in an emerging market. These findings suggest that the behavioural effects of institutions can diffuse across contexts through the exchange relations between firms. As institutional effects diffuse through firms’ relations, they are conditioned by structural properties of those exchange relations.

Effects of performance goals and social norms on academic dishonesty in a test.

Previous research has shown that achievement goals affect the frequency of academic dishonesty. However, mixed findings suggest that especially the effect of performance goals might depend on contextual factors. We wanted to investigate whether crucial aspects of the achievement situation influence the magnitude of the effect of performance goals (here: focused on appearance) on dishonesty. Specifically, we propose that social norms regarding the acceptance of dishonesty moderate the positive effect of performance goals on academic dishonesty. We sampled 105 German university students. They were teacher trainees, mostly in their first year at university and on average 20.6 (SD=3.6) years old (72.4% female). We conducted a 2 (induced appearance goals vs. no goal induction)×2 (cheating confederate vs. no observable cheating behaviour by this person) experiment. A manipulation check confirmed that the manipulation of appearance goals was successful. Cheating behaviour was observed by a confederate student and subsequently classified by two raters. Additionally, participants' dishonesty in self-presentation questions was measured using deviations from baseline measures. The induction of appearance goals only led to increased cheating when the social norm suggested that cheating behaviour was an acceptable way to increase performance (i.e., cheating confederate condition). For deceiving, we found a positive main effect of appearance goals. Appearance goals mediated these effects from goal manipulation on academic dishonesty. Taken together, our results highlight that the mixed findings on the effect of performance goals on academic dishonesty might be due to uninvestigated moderators such as social norms. Future research should build on these findings to identify additional moderators.

Modelling the drivers of a widespread shift to sustainable diets

A reduction in global meat consumption can significantly reduce the adverse environmental effects of the food system, but it would require widespread dietary changes. Such shifts to sustainable diets depend on several behavioural factors that have not yet been addressed in relation to the food system. This study links a behavioural diet shift model to an integrated assessment model to identify the main drivers of global diet change and its implications for the food system. The results show that the social norm effect (for instance, the extent of vegetarianism in the population that accelerates a further switch to a vegetarian diet) and self-efficacy are the main drivers of widespread dietary changes. These findings stress the importance of value-driven actions motivated either by intrinsic identity or by group dynamics over health and climate risk perceptions in steering diet change dynamics. Dietary changes to reduce environmental impacts depend on behavioural factors. By linking a behavioural diet shift model to an integrated assessment model, this study shows the role of social norms and self-efficacy as main drivers of widespread dietary changes.