Factorial Survey Experiment Research Articles

Merit, Need, Entitlement? Investigating Fairness of Housing Evaluations

Abstract The article empirically investigates how individuals evaluate unequal housing conditions with respect to the distributive justice principles of merit, need, and status entitlement. Also addressed is the “double standards” hypothesis. The data stem from an online survey fielded to a random sample of the population of a mid-sized German city (N = 1,154). In a factorial survey experiment, respondents rated example residential constellations of fictitious persons with respect to their perceived fairness. The vignettes varied merit-, need-, and entitlement-related factors, and housing conditions. The findings show that respondents take these justice principles into account when making judgments about fair housing, and that need-related factors (having children) are more important than merit (professional performance). Further, there are double standards of the form that performance is applied differently based on the gender and occupational status of fictitious residents. The article finishes by discussing issues that should be addressed by future work and calls for more empirical studies on fairness of housing evaluations.

What do host country natives think of return migration? resentment and calls for refugee return

ABSTRACT Amidst rising hostilities and repatriation calls in countries hosting refugees, understanding the dynamics of native perceptions becomes crucial for addressing the growing tensions. This study utilizes an original factorial survey experiment to explore native perceptions of refugee return. In doing so, it identifies resentment -arising from perceived unfair resource allocation to refugees- as a driving factor shaping respective native attitudes. Results suggest that as resentment builds up, natives become more likely to demand refugees' repatriation. Resentment's influence is particularly pronounced in healthcare and education policies, highlighting its context-dependent nature in explaining attitudes. Moreover, the effect of resentment remains robust even when considering alternative predictors (i.e. threat perceptions and contact). This underscores the complex nature of host attitudes towards refugees, suggesting that perceptions of fairness and justice in resource distribution are central to understanding the increasing number of calls for repatriation among native populations. Providing insights from Turkey, an understudied case in migration studies, this study also contributes to our understanding of whether and how existing theories about the drivers of attitudes toward refugees play out in non-Western contexts.

Norms about parental employment in Eastern and Western Germany: Results of a factorial survey experiment

Objective: This study analyzes norms in Germany toward mothers’ and fathers’ work hours, with a focus on differences between Eastern and Western Germany. Background: Maternal labor force participation has increased in many Western countries, and norms toward parents’ division of paid work and care have changed over the past decades. Most literature, however, focuses on maternal labor force participation without considering paternal work hours, based on the dichotomy of a traditional male-breadwinner model versus a model with two adults working full time and comprehensive institutionalized childcare, leaving out other potential arrangements. This focus limits the understanding of differences between Eastern and Western Germany. Method: This study investigates normative judgments regarding both mothers’ and fathers’ employment in a factorial survey experiment implemented in the German Family Panel pairfam in 2019/2020 (N=6,285). Results: The analysis reveals that in Western compared to Eastern Germany shorter working hours are indicated for both fathers and mothers, and judgments regarding working hours vary more and are more affected by job-related variables (relative incomes, career prospects, and family-friendliness of employer). Conclusion: These results imply that in Western Germany, normative judgments of both parents’ work hours are mainly based on the individual level, taking the family’s specific situation into account, whereas in Eastern Germany, judgements are more strongly influenced by a general norm that both parents should work (near to) full-time.

Beauty pays, but not under all circumstances: Evidence on gendered hiring discrimination from a novel experimental treatment using deepfakes

Using deepfaked job application videos as a novel experimental treatment, this study analyses the effects of physical attractiveness for men and women on their hypothetical hiring chances. Based on status construction theory, we argue that whether gendered expectations through physical attractiveness translate into better hiring chances depends on the social context. To test this theoretical claim, we conducted a 2×2×2 factorial survey experiment among respondents with personnel responsibilities (N = 493). Using deep-learning techniques, we swap the faces of fictitious male and female candidates in application videos, thus varying gender and physical attractiveness while holding everything else constant. Additionally, we manipulate the occupational context with job advertisements for a male-typed and a female-typed job. Results show that attractive applicants score higher in competence ratings and are more likely to be invited for a job interview than less attractive candidates. However, only men consistently profit from their looks, while women benefit from a beauty premium in the female-typed, but not in the male-typed job. These results strongly support the idea that physical attractiveness works as a status characteristic, triggers gendered expectations, and leads to beauty-based treatment differences. This study suggests that the use of deepfakes is a promising avenue to move inequality research forward.

Do immigrants at bay keep the xenophobes away? Post-entry rights and public opposition to immigrant admission

Abstract Many citizens in liberal democracies are concerned about immigration and its impact on their countries. Governments often seek to address these concerns by restricting the post-entry rights of immigrants such as the right to permanent settlement or access to welfare benefits. Thereby, it is expected that immigrants with an inferior legal status are (perceived as) less threatening to natives and, as a result, make the latter more willing to accept new immigrants. Does this policy rationale indeed attenuate public opposition to immigrant admission and thus allow for the reconciliation of the economic need for immigrants with the political concerns of domestic constituents? This study advances the theoretical argument of a rights-conditionality in citizens’ immigration preferences and provides empirical evidence on the phenomenon. A factorial survey experiment among citizens in the United States and Switzerland tests the effect of residence and welfare rights on the public opposition to immigrant admission. The results show that restricting immigrants’ welfare rights does significantly decrease public opposition towards immigration across the two countries. In contrast, restricting immigrants’ residence rights does not, and in the context of Switzerland, even increases opposition to immigrant admission. Citizens critical of immigration are thus not per se more welcoming to immigrants if they receive an inferior legal status but seem to care about immigrants’ contributions and commitment to the receiving society. The findings highlight the importance of immigrants‘ post-entry rights in the view of citizens and show how the design of immigration policies may help to understand public immigration preferences.

The gender gap in fair earnings increases with age due to higher age premium for men.

This study explores how gender and age interact in shaping beliefs about fair pay through a factorial survey experiment conducted with German employees. Respondents evaluated hypothetical worker descriptions varying in age, gender, and earnings. While no gender gap in fair earnings was found for the youngest hypothetical workers, a significant gap favoring men emerged with increasing age. This suggests that male workers receive a higher age premium on fair earnings than female workers. The findings highlight the need to understand how gender interacts with other characteristics to legitimize workplace inequalities.

Heterogeneous effects of monetary and non-monetary job characteristics on job attractiveness in nursing

We apply a novel methodological approach described by Chernozhukov et al. (2018), to analyze preference heterogeneity regarding non-monetary job characteristics and trade-offs between wage and non-monetary job characteristics. Using this approach, we can describe preference heterogeneity more concise than with subgroup analysis. Analyzing data from a self-conducted factorial survey experiment on nurses, we find significant effect heterogeneity regarding non-monetary job characteristics and their trade-off with wages. We also find positive interaction effects between wage and other job characteristics. We further analyze which factors are associated with effect heterogeneity. Working hours and gender appear to be the main drivers of these effects. We also find differences regarding the sources of a nurse’s motivation to initially choose the nursing occupation. Differentiation of job characteristics (job offers) to fit different preferences can therefore be a more effective and efficient way to attract workers than a “one size fits all” solution.

Collaboration or Hierarchy: Experimental Evidence on Governance Modes and Legitimacy Perceptions

ABSTRACTAmidst growing interest in collaborative governance as means to enhance the legitimacy of public governance, this article investigates public officials' perceptions of this governance mode. Despite theoretical propositions linking collaborative governance to enhanced legitimacy, empirical validation is scarce. Using a factorial survey experiment with 932 public officials in the Finnish central administration, the article investigates if collaborative governance promotes legitimacy compared with hierarchical bureaucracy. The results are clear: collaborative governance does not inherently boost perceived legitimacy, but rather undermines it. This study captures the causal relationships between governance modes, key governance traits (stakeholder opposition/support and majority opposition/support), and perceived legitimacy, thereby challenging prevailing theoretical assumptions about the merits of collaborative governance.

Who Cares About Nonprofit Reputation: Individual Differences in the Relationship Between Nonprofit Reputation and Charitable Giving

ABSTRACTOur study examined how individual characteristics shape the way different dimensions of nonprofit reputation impact charitable giving decisions. We used data from a 2 × 2 × 2 full factorial survey experiment and operationalized reputation in three dimensions: financial efficiency, media visibility, and accreditation status. First, our findings show that information about high financial efficiency leads to increased donations from individuals who are older, White, or have higher levels of education, but fewer donations from individuals who are more religious or employed in the nonprofit sector. Second, information about accreditation status tends to drive more donations from older individuals but fewer donations from those who are more religious or conservative. The results underscore the significant role of individual differences in explaining the effects of nonprofit reputation on charitable giving decisions. Moreover, our study offers practical insights into how information regarding nonprofit reputation can be strategically utilized to solicit donations and educate donors.

Parental Investment, Status, and Child Gender: Some Evidence for the Trivers–Willard Hypothesis from a Survey Experiment

This study critically evaluates and empirically tests the Trivers–Willard (TW) hypothesis, which proposes a relationship between parental socioeconomic status and sex: Parents with higher status are expected to be more likely to have male offspring and to preferentially invest in male offspring, whereas parents with lower status are expected to be more likely to have female offspring and to preferentially invest in daughters. Although the TW hypothesis has been explored in terms of offspring sex ratio and parental investment, findings in modern developed societies generally show null results, with notable exceptions in the domain of parental investment in their children’s education. Previous studies have often not explicitly addressed the potential underlying mechanisms of the TW effect. This includes the authors of the original hypothesis (Trivers and Willard 1973), who discussed some potential mechanisms but ultimately left the question of mechanisms unanswered. Building on Matthews’s (2011) proposition to explore psychological underpinnings, this paper posits that the TW effect, if present, may be rooted in general parental preferences. To investigate this, a factorial survey experiment was designed to measure respondents’ preferences in parental investment while minimizing social desirability bias. The study specifically examines the extent to which respondents’ assessments of favorability and fairness in various parental investment scenarios depend on child characteristics believed to influence differential parental behavior. The findings reveal patterns that are somewhat in line with the TW hypothesis but are minor and lack statistical significance. The article concludes by proposing three future research directions aimed at further unraveling the intricacies of the TW effect.

Parent capability: A factorial survey experiment on the duration of parental leave

We use Sen’s capability approach to identify factors able to increase the effective freedom of working parents when deciding the length of their parental leave. We conducted a factorial survey experiment (FSE) with a Spanish sample of employees aged between 25 and 45. Respondents were asked to imagine that they were first-time parents and several descriptions of hypothetical situations or vignettes (where aspects of the leave system, workplace and family environment were randomly varied) were presented to them. Our goal was to identify the causal effect of a number of dimensions on their hypothetical decisions about the total number of weeks they would be on parental leave. A longer statutory duration and a higher replacement rate (of the paid part of the leave), having job security, and a workplace with friendly practices and cultures, were found to have a significant positive impact on the duration of parental leave.

How do different forms of early employment instability affect future employment chances? A factorial survey experiment with employers

PurposePeriodic economic instabilities and structural changes in the labour market have given rise to a variety of forms of job insecurity. This article compares the scarring effects of different forms of job insecurity on future employment chances, and how they vary across education groups.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of real vacancies and data collected in a vignette experiment with employers in Switzerland, a country with a strongly developed vocational education and training (VET) system, this article investigates how employers evaluate a period of unemployment, job hopping and work experience in deskilling jobs when hiring candidates.FindingsThe findings reveal that work in deskilling jobs is by far more scarring than unemployment or job hopping. The study also demonstrates that applicants with upper secondary vocational education are impacted the greatest by all three forms of job insecurity.Originality/valueThe study makes use of real vacancies. While experiments have the strength of high internal validity, most experimental studies in recruitment research rely on students as respondents. As this study works with real employers hiring for positions it benefits from high external validity.

How Much Tailoring Is too Much? Voter Backlash on Highly Tailored Campaign Messages

Findings on whether voters like or dislike targeted campaign messages have been contradictory. I argue that voters react differently depending on how precisely the targeted messages are tailored to them, and tailoring can potentially become “too much.” I corroborate this claim with the results of a factorial survey experiment among a representative sample of the German voting population ( N = 3,217), which was conducted in the summer of 2021. Taking a novel approach, I measured the effects of close political targeting by asking respondents to rate campaign messages with varying degrees of tailoring. The analysis revealed a backlash effect, which is especially pronounced by men getting ads tailored to their gender. Voters appreciate messages that are moderately tailored to them but dislike highly tailored messages. This holds both for implicitly tailored messages and those that explicitly acknowledge the use of personal data. These results indicate that voters seem to recognize excessively tailored messages and manipulating them is difficult. These findings have important implications for the modern election campaigning’s effects on political behavior and its regulation.

Variation in unemployment scarring across labor markets. A comparative factorial survey experiment using real vacancies

Unemployment may severely impede access to (good) jobs. We focus on the effects of unemployment scarring on the chances of young workers to get hired and evaluate the extent to which they are affected in labor markets with different levels of unemployment. Drawing on Goffman’s work on stigmatization and on queuing theory, we derive two potentially complementary micro-level explanations with opposing macro-level implication. We address the variation in unemployment scarring across 20 labor markets in four European countries based on factorial survey experiments embedded in real hiring situations. The results suggest that in labor markets with persistently low levels of unemployment, stigmatization, as proposed by Goffman, is the main source of unemployment scarring. We find no evidence that unemployment scarring is weaker when unemployment and the number of job seekers are low, as we inferred from queuing approaches. Our study contributes to expanding knowledge of context variability in unemployment scarring.

Improving compliance around protected areas through fair administration of rules.

Protected area management often depends heavily on law enforcement to secure compliance with rules. However, this can contribute to conflict between protected area authorities and local people, negatively affecting both human well-being and conservation outcomes. Compliance is affected by many factors, including whether those who enforce rules are perceived to do so fairly, as well as the perceived rule-related behavior of others. We used factorial survey experiments to explore how fair respondents living around protected areas in Indonesia and Tanzania perceive sanctions distributed by law enforcers to be. We presented scenarios to respondents to assess how crime type, offender characteristics, and corruption influenced their judgments regarding the fairness of administered sanctions. We also assessed how descriptive norms and corruption influenced individuals' willingness to obey protected area rules. Data were collected from 229 people in Indonesia and 217 in Tanzania. Results showed that in both locations, lawful sanctions, such as arrests or warnings, were perceived as fairer, and sanctions that involved corruption were perceived as least fair. Attitudes toward protected area rules, corruption, and descriptive norms all influenced people's willingness to comply, whereas multidimensional poverty did not. Our results highlight the need for conservation policy and practice to move beyond narratives that focus on the need for more law enforcement. To improve protected area compliance and secure better outcomes for people and nature, conservation must focus on ensuring the fair administration of rules and enhancing the legitimacy of rules themselves.

How to Balance Privacy and (Health) Benefits: Privacy Calculus and the Intention to Use Health Tracking at the Workplace

To address increasing pressures experienced in the workplace, the use of wearables as part of workplace health promotion programs is on the rise. Even though the benefits are well-known, participation rates are often low due to privacy-related issues. Therefore, this study illuminates the area of privacy further by investigating the influence of the wearable’s additional private use and limited data access on employees’ intended use. Based on technology acceptance and Privacy Calculus Theory, this study applied a factorial survey experiment to test several literature-driven hypotheses. While restricting data access to the employee has a positive impact on employees’ privacy concerns, perceived benefits, and intended use, the possibility of private use is only of secondary relevance for individuals’ privacy perceptions and intention to use. The results provide empirical evidence on how the design of digital workplace health promotion programs can increase conscious participation.

Nurse judgements of hospitalized patients' safety concerns are affected by patient, nurse and event characteristics: A factorial survey experiment.

To test the influences of patient, safety event and nurse characteristics on nurse judgements of credibility, importance and intent to report patients' safety concerns. Factorial survey experiment. A total of 240 nurses were recruited and completed an online survey including demographic information and responses to eight factorial vignettes consisting of unique combinations of eight patient and event factors. Hierarchical multivariate analysis was used to test influences of vignette factors and nurse characteristics on nurse judgements. The intraclass coefficients for nurse judgements suggest that the variation among nurses exceeded the influence of contextual vignette factors. Several significant sources of nurse variation were identified, including race/ethnicity, suggesting a complex relationship between nurses' characteristics and their potential biases, and the influence of personal and patient factors on nurses' judgements, including the decision to report safety concerns. Nurses are key players in the system to manage patient safety concerns. Variation among nurses and how they respond to scenarios of patient safety concerns highlight the need for nurse-level intervention. Complex factors influence nurses' judgement, interpretation and reporting of patients' safety concerns. Understanding nurse judgement regarding patient-expressed safety concerns is critical for designing processes and systems that promote reporting. Multiple event and patient characteristics (type of event and apparent harm, and patient gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and communication approach) as well as participant characteristics (race/ethnicity, gender, years of experience and primary hospital area) impacted participants' judgements of credibility, degree of concern and intent to report. These findings will help guide patient safety nurse education and training. STROBE guidelines. Members of the public, including patient advocates, were involved in content validation of the vignette scenarios, norming photographs used in the factorial survey and testing the survey functionality.

Perceived legitimacy of agricultural support schemes: An investigation using factorial survey experiments

Abstract Agricultural support payments are a significant position in public budgets, and the legitimacy of such payments is subject to continuing debate. The legitimacy rests on the social acceptance of citizens for support payments to farmers, which is the focus of this study. Social acceptance is investigated using evaluations of farm and farmer descriptions in a factorial survey experiment. The results reveal higher acceptance of payments for farms demonstrating enhanced animal welfare, biodiversity, and a lower carbon footprint. The acceptance of support payments is negatively associated with payment amount, but payments to farmers who are financially struggling are more accepted than payments to profitable farmers; indicating respondent preferences that align with the need justice principle. Study findings can be used to inform priorities for legitimate policies of agricultural support schemes, to identify areas of consensus or disagreement regarding social acceptance of support, and to facilitate effective communication on agricultural support policy.

Elite Cueing, Gender, and the Partisan Gap in Environmental Support

ABSTRACT This study extends research on how political and social contexts mediate the relationship between men’s and women’s political identities and their support for the environment. Our test consists of a 3 × 2 factorial survey experiment that interacts an individual’s partisan identity with three conditions modeling elite support for federal spending to protect the environment. Democrats demonstrate consistently high rates of support regardless of legislative sponsorship. Among Republicans, when Democratic legislators sponsor environmental legislation, support drops about 18% compared to conditions where a bipartisan group sponsors legislation. Support among Republican women, however, remains relatively stable across experimental conditions. Republican variations in support are almost entirely attributable to declines in support among Republican men, whose support drops an average of 24% when Democratic legislators sponsor legislation. In conclusion, intraparty gender differences in opinions and support should be considered more broadly, especially when examining polarized public issues.

Disentangling the attractiveness of telework to employees: A factorial survey experiment

This article analyses the attractiveness of telework using a factorial survey experiment in which employees evaluate job offers with diverging characteristics, including a wide variation in the possibility to telework. This allows us to show that the relationship between the possibility to telework and job attractiveness is approximately linear: 10 percentage points (pp) more telework hours yield a rise of 2.2 pp in attractiveness and, therefore, the willingness to forego a 2.2 pp wage increase in the new job. Our experimental design also allows us to investigate the underlying mechanisms and moderators of this relationship structurally and extensively.