Impact Of Social Norms Research Articles

The Need to Act: Incest as a Crime Given Low Priority—A View with India as an Example

Background: Incest is a form of sexual activity that occurs within family or kinship systems. It is prohibited by religion and law in most countries as well as by social mores or taboos. Data from various parts of the world indicate, however, that it appears to be a relatively common event, although there is reason to believe that the actual frequency is unknown. Most available data focus upon children as victims, although we note that incest also occurs between adult family members. Methods: A systematic review was performed using PRISMA guidelines. With a focus upon India, the search tools of Academic Search Complete, Google Scholar and PUBMED were used to identify articles that legally defined incest; frequency; barriers to disclosure; the dynamics of incest and social norms. Results: The available data were very limited, making a systematic review unachievable within the narrow confines of incest. Conclusions: The literature is sparse. This led to a discussion of definitional issues; barriers to disclosure; and challenges with measuring the problem of incest and the impact of social norms. Questions of law and efforts at reform were also considered. The article considers what steps might be appropriate.

The impact of social norms on cross-state energy regime changes

We present a survey study that explores two experimental analysis: first, a cross-country norms effect on petition signing, and second, a cross-state comparison, focusing on clean energy adaptation instead of fossil fuel energy. In the first study, we use energy consumption information from the US, EU, and China. Using the first study as a pilot, we redesigned the second experiment by providing energy utilization for Arizonian and New Mexican to validate our norms by comparing their states' green energy consumption to the pioneer states separately. The results of the research point out that social norms can effectively influence the participants in different angles. The attendants are more likely to sign a petition—by seven percent—in favor of clean energy act when they have been provided with additional information. This research highlights that not only social norms could be compelling individuals’ behavior, but also that they are sensitive to the types of information which are disclosed to them.

The impact of social norms on navigating race in a racially diverse context

To date, research has primarily focused on the colorblind norms and behaviors of majority-White participants in majority-White contexts. Extending this work to more diverse samples and contexts, across four studies, we examine whether colorblind norms link to the colorblind behavior of racially diverse participants living in a racially diverse (i.e., heterogeneous) context. Findings suggest that participants living in a racially diverse context did not endorse colorblind beliefs (Study 1) and norms (Study 2), and instead behaved in race-conscious ways and overwhelmingly used race in a photo identification task. Furthermore, in Study 3, we find that colorblind norms are largely activated by the belief that talking about race is prejudiced. When participants were exposed to a social norm that linked talking about race to prejudice, colorblind behavior became more prevalent. Finally, in Study 4, we see that greater diversity of one’s context is correlated to less endorsement of colorblindness.

Imitation as a social norm that influences the choice of career and labor participation of women

In Latin America, labor market indicators still show large gender gaps in access to opportunities and rights. These inequalities persist despite various policy efforts because they emanate from a social system that reproduces stereotypes and gender roles. This contradicts the development vision of the United Nations and the ILO: “Without gender equality, sustainable development is neither development nor sustainable”. This contribution focuses on the impact of social norms on women's decisions, regarding career choice and labor participation. To this end, we have built and simulated an agent-based model. The model assumes that gender roles are acquired and reproduced through the environment that surrounds women. The results of this social simulation suggest that the environment greatly influences the perception of women about the roles they must assume and the areas in which they must play, so it is pertinent to design policies aiming to change the conceptions of identity and traditional gender roles, since the construction and adoption of new and more equitable values is in part acquired through the imitation of the behavior observed in a woman's environment.

Scoping Review: Intergenerational Resource Transfer and Possible Enabling Factors.

We explore the intergenerational pattern of resource transfer and possible associated factors. A scoping review was conducted of quantitative, peer-reviewed, English-language studies related to intergenerational transfer or interaction. We searched AgeLine, PsycINFO, Social Work s, and Sociological s for articles published between Jane 2008 and December 2018. Seventy-five studies from 25 countries met the inclusion criteria. The scoping review categorised resource transfers into three types: financial, instrumental, and emotional support. Using an intergenerational solidarity framework, factors associated with intergenerational transfer were placed in four categories: (1) demographic factors (e.g., age, gender, marital status, education, and ethno-cultural background); (2) needs and opportunities factors, including health, financial resources, and employment status; (3) family structures, namely, family composition, family relationship, and earlier family events; and (4) cultural-contextual structures, including state policies and social norms. Those factors were connected to the direction of resource transfer between generations. Downward transfers from senior to junior generations occur more frequently than upward transfers in many developed countries. Women dominate instrumental transfers, perhaps influenced by traditional gender roles. Overall, the pattern of resource transfer between generations is shown, and the impact of social norms and social policy on intergenerational transfers is highlighted. Policymakers should recognise the complicated interplay of each factor with different cultural contexts. The findings could inform policies that strengthen intergenerational solidarity and support.

Energy Demand Management and Social Norms

The main objective of our study was investigating the impact of norms and financial motivation on the disutility of energy management for Polish households. We analyzed consumer preferences and willingness to accept demand-side management (DSM) programs. Choice experiment was applied for electricity contracts including external control of electricity consumption. Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior provided the theoretical framework of the study, which tested hypotheses about the impact of social norms on consumer choices of electricity contracts. We show that people with higher descriptive social norms about electricity consumption are less sensitive to the level of compensation and more responsive to the number of blackouts. People willing to sign a contract for financial reasons were less sensitive to the external control of electricity consumption and less inclined toward the status quo option. Injunctive social norms and personal norms had a non-significant impact on consumer decisions. We conclude that financial incentives can reduce the effect of the norms. Social and personal norms seem to be more important when we analyze the revealed preferences. European countries face significant challenges related to changes in energy policy. This study contributes to understanding the decisions of households and provides insights into the implementation of DSM.

The Impact of Social Norms and Risk Assessment on Diners’ Reaction to Food Safety Concerns in Restaurants

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavioral reactions of diners when witnessing a food safety violation in a restaurant. Protection motivation and social norms theories were used to identify risk-related behavior to measure risk assessment, appraisal of food safety health threats, and the impact of descriptive and injunctive norms on reaction behaviors of diners in response to unsanitary food handler behavior and restaurant conditions. A mixed-methods approach was used with focus groups to develop the survey instrument that was distributed to 1,800 recipients, resulting in 1,169 usable surveys. Results suggest that if customers perceive a threat to be severe or if they have a belief that responding in a certain way will reduce the risk of a food safety concern, they are more apt to intervene to eliminate the threat. This study also shows that social norms mediate the influence of intervention, despite the severity of threat assessment. Practical and academic implications are discussed.

Impact of social norms and public supervision on the willingness and behavior of farming households to participate in rural living environment improvement: Empirical analysis based on generalized continuous ratio model

Impact of social norms and public supervision on the willingness and behavior of farming households to participate in rural living environment improvement: Empirical analysis based on generalized continuous ratio model

Gender Gaps in PISA Test Scores: The Impact of Social Norms and the Mother’s Transmission of Role Attitudes

The existence of gender gaps in test scores has been documented in the relevant literature for a wide range of countries. In particular, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducted by the OECD over the past ten years reveals that on average girls underperform (outperform) boys in maths (reading) scores in most of the countries that take part in the evaluation programme. Focussing primarily on maths we find that differences in culture and social norms across countries and across regions within the same country are crucial determinants in understanding gender differences in PISA 2009 scores: girls perform relatively better in societies where gender equality is enhanced, and the effect varies over the distribution of scores. In addition, we find substantial evidence for the intergenerational transmission of gender role attitudes within the family, especially from mothers to daughters, as the relative performance of girls with respect to boys is better in families where the mother is active in the labour market.

Children's conformity to social norms to eat healthy: A developmental perspective

RationalePrevious studies suggest injunctive norms (prompts of what people ought to do) are stronger predictors of healthy eating intentions, whereas descriptive norms (prompts of what people are doing) are stronger predictors of healthy eating behaviors. However, previous research provides little insight into why different norms influence children's health intentions and behaviors differently. In addition, no research has explored developmental differences in children's conformity to, or rejection of, different types of social normative influence. Thus, this paper adopts a developmental perspective to understand why children conform differently to descriptive and injunctive norm messaging on healthy eating. MethodAn experiment was done with 405 children in Germany aged 7 to 16. The research design was a 4 (social norms: descriptive vs. injunctive peer vs. injunctive authority vs. control) × 2 (developmental stage: middle childhood vs. adolescence) between-subject design. Children's healthy eating intentions and behaviors were collected as key dependent variables. Resultsand conclusions: The experimental results suggest that children mainly use a descriptive norm as an information shortcut to behaving “appropriately”. This should have a stronger impact on younger children than older ones, although both young and old children consider it easier to understand than an injunctive norm. The experimental results further suggest that an injunctive norm mainly influences children via activation of a motive for maintaining a positive self-image in public, rather than one of affiliation. These results are very important for social research on health, because they can explain why different social norms influence health intentions and behaviors differently. In addition, our finding that injunctive norm conformity is mainly used for impression management purposes can reconcile existing contradictory results on the impact of social norms on children.

The Impact of Social Norms on Suboptimal Food Consumption: A Solution for Food Waste

Consumers seem to have a reduced preference to buy fruits and vegetables with unusual appearance, products with damaged package and close to the expiration date, usually called suboptimal food products. However, this pattern of behavior is an important contributor to food waste levels. Interventions aimed at encouraging the purchase of suboptimal food are scarce, however, needed. Across two studies, we investigated the effect of social norms in driving suboptimal food consumption. Additionally, it was tested if food waste problem awareness is the underlying mechanism in the relationship between social norms and intention to buy suboptimal food. Results show that appeals employing social norms positively affect purchases intentions toward the products. Moreover, food waste problem awareness mediates the effect of social norms on intentions to purchase the product with an unusual appearance. We discuss how social norms can be used to tackle food waste and implications for marketing and policy actions.

Information Economic Man Assumption: Concept Definition and Comparison

Social norm, an important and coordinating part in economic activities, can greatly reduce the information demand that economic decisions require. The assumption of “Rational Man”, which exists in the western mainstream economics, is based on the simplified model of the instinct of human beings. And this thoroughly ignores the social attribute of human beings. In the literature review, the assumption of “Rational Man” is analyzed as an abstract and deductive way based on the western culture of Christianity. This theory can better explain the economic behaviors of human beings under the specific social circumstance of the protestant ethic. However, its rationality cannot be guaranteed without such cultural background. Besides, under the eastern social circumstance dominated by Confucianism, the assumption of “Rational Man” can also bring prominent ethical conflicts. The assumption of “Information Economic Man” put forward by this thesis gives consideration both to the individual rationality and social features an economic man possesses, and better explains the impact of social norm on economic decisions. By bringing into the capital vector, and drawing on field theory, the model of “information field” is generated. It can provide economic man with a concise math model that affects the process of decision making. The size and direction of capital vector represent respectively the influence of economic factors and moral factors on economic decisions. And thus a wider range of economic behavior of human beings can be analyzed in a rational way.

The Impact of Social Norms, Trust, and Fairness on Voluntary Tax Compliance in Austria

Existing literature stresses the importance of economic factors when aiming to increase voluntary tax compliance. However, emerging voices also point out to relevant social factors, but emphasize that more research needs to be carried out for their verification. Therefore, in this article, research was conducted to provide further evidence to show how social factors have an influence on voluntary tax compliance. The research is the first attempt to replicate the results of the structural model of Jimenez and Iyer (2016) outside of the us, claiming that one’s moral standards (personal norms) and perceived fairness directly influence voluntary tax compliance, meanwhile social norms and trust in government have an indirect impact on tax compliance via influencing personal norms and perceived fairness. To achieve a beneficial result, 333 Austrian taxpayers were surveyed in Austria. The data was analysed in spss using frequencies, correlations and regression analysis. The results verify the aforementioned assumptions and emphasize its consideration when aiming to increase voluntary tax compliance.

The impact of social norms on female corporate board membership inclusion

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to document that religious adherence in the county of the corporate headquarter and educational attainment of the female director pool near the firm headquarters are influential to the likely addition of female corporate board directors.Design/methodology/approachThe sample covers 1,630 unique firms and 30,369 unique directors covering a ten-year period to investigate the effects of religiosity and educational attainment.FindingsThe analysis reveals that while the number of women has increased in general terms, this change is mostly limited to boards that are increasing in size. Women do not tend to replace exiting male board members but are appointed when the board size grows. Therefore, while the number of women is increasing in absolute terms, they are not increasing in relative terms. In areas where religiosity is high, as measured by church affiliation and attendance, female participation in the boardroom is lower and a more educated and qualified female population leads to higher board participation. These effects supersede any regional effects.Originality/valueThe study adds insights into corporate board dynamic, providing new evidence concerning the impact of local conditions on board composition as well as additional information concerning the interplay of board dynamics and female board representation.

The role of social norms on conservation programmes in shellfish fisheries

Ostrom (1990) has argued that in collective action problems, social factors are crucial in order to promote conservation. A survey instrument among shellfish gatherers has been used to analyse their preferences with respect to a proposed conservation management programme, assessing the effect of co-management initiatives and the impact of social norms on extraction. Results show that shellfish gatherers working in a Marine Protected Area (MPA) behave more conservatively with respect to their counterparts in terms of their current extraction patterns, promoting species conservation. With regards to social norms, expected believes about the fulfilment of the current extraction regulation in their network, allow for the acceptance of restrictions imposed by the conservation management plan without decreasing the shellfish gatherers’ utility in any significant way.

공정무역커피에 대한 불확실성에 따른 소비자 태도 형성과 규범 및 구매의도 간 구조 관계 분석

This study examined the relationships among uncertainty(adverse selection, moral hazard, description uncertainty, performance uncertainty), attitudes, social norms, personal norms and the purchase intentions of consumers. This was done to identify fundamental factors driving consumer purchase intention for fair trade coffee. It also investigated whether social norms have a positive impact on personal norms. Empirical investigation for this survey was conducted and data collected from 370 coffee consumers and was statistically analyzed via structural equation modeling(SEM). The results showed that uncertainty attitudes(adverse selection, moral hazard, performance uncertainty) toward fair trade coffee had negative effects, but description uncertainty had a positive effect on attitude. Furthermore, attitudes toward purchasing intention and social norms caused significantly positive effects on consumer purchase intention. On the contrary, personal norms did not produce a significant effect. Also, the impact of social norms on personal norms was positive and significant. Based on the results of this study, theoretical, academic, and useful practical implications were discussed.

Why Do Most People Follow the Default Matrimonial Property Regime in Chile?

Spouses in Chile have three different choices of matrimonial property regimes to regulate their pecuniary relationships among themselves and with third parties: marital partnership, separation of goods, and community of gains. The default regime is the marital partnership, and most people go along with it at the moment of marriage. Spouses can, however, opt out before and after the marriage to any of the two other alternatives. Taking into consideration data from 2006 to 2014, on average, 55% of spouses went along with the default regime. The prevalence of marital partnership occurs despite the increase in divorce rates, the discriminatory nature of the regime towards women, and a significant rate of ex-post opt-outs. The preceding sheds doubt on the reasons why people—and particularly women—might prefer the marital partnership. This study intends to determine: (i) whether the default regime imposes an emotional tax on spouses or prevails because of inertia; (ii) the impact of social norms in people’s decision making; (iii) misperceptions about divorce rates; (iv) optimism bias; and (v) knowledge of current restrictions women face under the marital partnership. Finally, this study assessed (vi) whether people would find it acceptable to switch the default rule to separation of property. With this purpose, I surveyed married people in Chile with the help of social media. The findings showed that the default did not impose an emotional burden for most people who decided to stick to it. While inertia and herd behavior might have influenced 33% of people who went along with the default, ignorance about the actual divorce rates, optimism, and unawareness about the restrictions the marital partnership imposes on women provided a better explanation on the high rate of spouses that stuck to the marital partnership. In light of current divorce rates, this is a sub-optimal outcome. Informational campaigns should overcome this failure. Also, switching the default rule would be a positive nudge to help people make better decisions.

Technology, enrollment gender gap and the impact of social norms in rural China

Purpose Investigating the relationship between gender gap in school enrollment and the spread of information and communication technology (ICT) in rural China. Design/methodology/approach Using data from China Health and Nutrition Survey for the period of 1991-2009, we document gender patterns of school enrollments of children aged between 7 and 18 years. We estimate the impact of phone and internet access on school enrollments of children using a probit model. Findings The results indicate that the spread of phone and internet access both contribute to an increase in enrollment of females. Naturally, the gender gap in enrollments is not simply shaped by technology, and social norms also play an important role. Consequently, our results also show that enrollment of females is lower in the communities where pro-son preference is stronger, holding technology and other factors constant. Originality/value We conclude that promoting further development of telecommunications services may result in narrowing the school enrollment gender gap in rural China. This conclusion is valuable in setting governmental policies as well as guiding the actions of NGOs.

Exploring the Impact of Social Norms and Online Shopping Anxiety in the Adoption of Online Apparel Shopping by Indian Consumers

The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between subjective norms, technology anxiety, and other technology acceptance model variables to understand Indian consumers' attitudes and intention to shop for apparel via the Internet. Structural equation modeling was employed to evaluate the research model in determining model fit and significant paths. The subjective norm was found to have a major influence on perceived ease of use, contradictory to previous research. Perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were found to be important determinants of the intention to shop for apparel online. Indian consumers did not report any technology anxiety. This article provides an initial insight for retailers and researchers that could aid in evaluating entry strategies into online apparel retailing. The research adds to the sparse literature concerning online apparel retailing and consumer shopping behavior in the growing Indian online apparel market.

Do Institutional Investors Drive Corporate Social Responsibility? International Evidence

This paper explores both the role of institutional investors in firms’ corporate social responsibility choices and the impact of social norms on these investors. Using a decade of firm-level environmental and social (E&S) performance data from 41 countries, we find that institutional ownership is positively associated with firm-level E&S performance, with multiple tests suggesting a causal relationship. The impact of institutional investors on firms’ E&S commitments is greatest for foreign investors based in countries with strong social norms regarding E&S, which are predominantly European. Tests that segment by investor type show that these social norm effects hold even for institutional investor types that are subject to market discipline, such as investment advisors. Overall, our results indicate that institutional investors transplant their social norms into the firms they hold around the world.