Macro-level Conditions Research Articles

Realization of Short-Term Fertility Intentions in a Comparative Perspective: Which Macro-Level Conditions Matter?

This is the first large-scale comparative study to search for macro-level determinants of the realization of short-term fertility intentions across European countries. Using the unique follow-up feature of the Generations and Gender Survey and adopting rigorous definitions of intentions and outcomes, it reports on the level of fulfilment and finds clear heterogeneity across European countries. Using a multilevel, multivariate approach, it examines the nature of macro-level factors that may explain differences in the realization of fertility intentions. Based on our analysis, we conclude that labour market stability (as measured by fluctuations in the unemployment rate), price stability, heavy welfare state involvement, and the dominance of certain attitudinal conditions all support the greater realization of short-term fertility intentions.

Understanding the Power of China’s National Social Credit System: A Structural/Mechanism Explanation

As a promising Social Science Methodology, Structural/Mechanism Explanation (SME) retains the advantages of mechanism-based explanation (ME), particularly its focus on “identifying causal patterns from micro-level social phenomena.” It also acknowledging the role of “structure”—seen as “macro-level conditions”—in incentivizing or disincentivizing key mechanisms, thus proving valuable for forecasting their emergence and decline. This article explores the theory of SME and applies it to examine how a revitalized “Legalist political structure coupled with a Confucianist ideological structure” can forecast the mechanisms by which China’s National Social Credit System disciplines and punishes the citizens. This is observed across domains of legislation, administration, judiciary, and propaganda.

Big Little Election Lies: Cynical and Credulous Evaluations of Electoral Fraud

Abstract The ‘Big Lie’ in American politics has sparked intense concern about the erosion of public confidence in the integrity of US elections—raising questions about the legitimacy of the authorities, institutions, and principles of democratic governance. Cynicism generated from misinformation about trustworthy elections has attracted a growing body of individual-level social-psychological research in America and Europe. Another common problem found around the world, however, which has received far less attention, concerns credulous citizens who express considerable faith and confidence in flawed contests. This study theorises that at macro-level, the accuracy of any public judgments about trustworthy elections is likely to be mediated by the information environment in open and closed societies, as well as by the type of regime. To understand these issues, Part I summarises the conceptual and theoretical argument about trust and trustworthiness. Part II describes the sources of evidence. To apply the theory, data on public opinion is drawn from around 85 societies around the globe included in Waves 6 and 7 of the World Values Survey (2010–2022), with measures of electoral trust and subjective perceptions of electoral integrity among ordinary citizens. Institutional electoral performance indices are drawn from the Varieties of Democracy project (V-Dem 12.0). Part III analyses how far these independent estimates match public judgments of the trustworthiness of elections in each country – and how far such relationships are conditioned by the type of information society as well as by the type of regime. Part IV highlights the key findings and considers their broader implications for understanding the macro-level conditions for trust and trustworthiness.

Gender balance in the workforce and abortion attitudes: A cross-national time-series analysis.

This article explores the relationship between gender balance in the workforce and attitudes towards abortion worldwide. Studies on macro-level conditions related to abortion attitudes overlook the role of gender balance in the workforce-specifically the degree of female representation in a country's workforce. There are strong reasons why this factor could shape abortion attitudes. We argue that such a gender balance creates necessary conditions to break with traditional, anti-abortion ideology and facilitates dissemination and public acceptance of pro-choice views. We test this argument with two different datasets - the Integrated Values Survey and three waves of the International Social Survey Programme-along with two outcomes: general tolerance towards abortion and tolerance towards abortion for pregnant women of low income. Using three-level random intercept models and multiple controls for individual and country-level conditions, the results support our hypothesis: In countries with higher gender balance in the workforce, individuals display higher tolerance towards abortion.

A multilevel analysis of the perception and behavior of Europeans regarding climate change

Individual and macro conditions shape interacting factors such as behavior and perception regarding climate change, but there is little consensus on the topic. This article shows that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are macro-level conditions indispensable for generating the perception and behavior of individuals to climate change issues. Moreover, as individual factors, we understand that life satisfaction, attitudes and levels of engagement with scientific knowledge as complements are also decisive in the proposed model. We used multilevel logistic and linear regression models to analyze individual perception and behavior levels, respectively, in 37 European countries. The results show that SDGs indicators most related to perception are those addressing social and economic development, while the goals dealing directly with preservation and relations with the environment are more clearly seen as predictors of individual behavior. Social barriers, such as poverty, high mortality rates, decreasing life expectancy, and unemployment, are obstacles to increasing individuals' perceptions, as these social problems of basic needs override environmental and climate concerns. On the other hand, individuals who are more satisfied with their lives and who engage in and present a pro-science attitude are more willing to notice and act in favor of climate change policies. We conclude that all nations should systematically seek effective actions against global climate change, and the success of convincing and engaging all communities depends on meeting the SDGs uniformly.

A macro-level understanding of levels and trends in the abuse and homicide of children, 1997–2020

BackgroundData suggest that U.S. rates of violence declined beginning in the 1990s. However, crime trend studies have not entirely agreed on reasons for the decline, and few have empirically assessed the decline in violence against children more specifically. ObjectiveThis study investigates several competing hypotheses for explaining declines in reported child physical abuse, sexual abuse, and homicide. Attention is given to the importance of these explanatory factors for explaining both rates (levels) and year-over-year differences (trends) in these child outcomes. Participants and settingPopulation-level state-panel data for the years 1997–2020 are used, totaling 1176 state-years. MethodsLinear panel-data models are used to examine the relationship between explanatory factors and levels and trends in rates of reported child abuse and child homicide. ResultsAs operationalized in this study, few of the hypotheses proposed for explaining declines in child victimization were associated with levels or trends in reported child abuse. The only explanatory factor significantly associated with lower rates of reported child physical abuse was the rate of alternative response. Year-over-year increases in lagged female incarceration rates were associated with year-over-year declines in rates of reported physical abuse. Several explanatory measures were associated with levels or trends in child homicide, while only methylphenidate distribution was associated with levels of reported child sexual abuse. ConclusionsPolicymakers should be aware of the importance of alternative response rates on rates of reported child physical abuse and recognize that macro-level declines in reported child victimization may only be possible if macro-level conditions are also addressed.

A Grounded Theory Study of Sustainable Innovations Created by the UNEP Young Champions of The Earth

In recent years there has been increased dialogue on the urgency of grand challenges and the role of sustainable innovation in facilitating sustainable development. Individuals are central to this phenomenon in that they provide the ideas and actions which build innovations for sustainable development. Nonetheless, many scholars agree that the sustainable innovation literature is limited by a restricted epistemology which lacks a multilevel approach to the phenomenon as well as a theoretical understanding of how individuals pioneer sustainable development. A more refined understanding of this phenomenon at the individual and multi-level can offer the insights necessary for mankind to transcend existing grand challenges. Hence, this paper presents a grounded theory study on why and how the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) Young Champions of the Earth (YCE) award winners create innovations for a flourishing planet. The UNEP YCE have successfully tackled several of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The data from this research has culminated into a 4 E Model which explains that sustainable innovations are created through four different stages – Entangling, Enlightening, Enacting and Evolving. These findings illuminate how macro level conditions trigger micro level processes on the intellect and feeling level that then propel individual actors to create synergy at the mesa1 level and innovate responsibly for social and environmental evolution.

Motivations for Chinese Students Choosing a college Major

This study aimed at exploring the main determinants of college major choice in China, and how factors stemming from the rational choice framework contribute to the final decision. Based on China’s Gaokao policy, this paper evaluated the fitness of rational choice theory for Chinese students choosing college majors and analyzed the decision mechanisms adopting primary and secondary effects, Coleman’s model, and the thin and thick models. Specifically, the choice of a college major is a result generated by the balance of risks, costs, and benefits, influenced by preferences and values, and shaped by certain macro-level conditions. Certain social influences have been emphasized in Chinese society.

Emerging Market Retail: Transitioning from a Product-Centric to a Customer-Centric Approach

In an environment with digital disruptions, retailers must adopt a customer-centric approach to survive and compete effectively. Retailers need to be agile and forward-looking in adopting the relevant analytics and performance metrics to bring a customer-centric approach across upstream and downstream activities in the retail value chain. However, retailers in emerging markets (EMs) need clarity on the specific analytics and performance metrics in the value chain that will enable them to transition from their current product-centric state to the desired customer-centric state. Employing a triangulation approach (i.e., literature review, marketplace evidence, and managerial interviews) in the fragmented retail landscape of EMs, this study provides an organizing framework that explains: (i) the need for a customer-centric approach across the retail value chain, (ii) the specific performance metrics that need to be adopted across upstream and downstream activities in the retail value chain to enable EM retailers to achieve their desired customer-centric state, and (iii) the role of analytics in providing insights to achieve these performance metrics and improving monetary and non-monetary firm performance outcomes. We also provide firm-specific and macro-level conditions that can influence the EM retailers’ adoption of relevant analytics and explain the different paths retail formats can follow to adopt analytics. We present a strategy matrix that enables retail managers to identify the appropriate analytics to be adopted at different retail value chain stages to achieve desired performance metrics. We also highlight future research opportunities in retailing in EMs.

The macro-level determinants of user entrepreneurship in healthcare: an explorative cross-country analysis

PurposeThis article analyses the new venture creation by patient innovators in 40 countries examining the effects of the four macro-level factors on entrepreneurship, adding a fifth sector-specific (healthcare) factor.Design/methodology/approachBy applying the statistical tool of principal component analysis, we find a clustering behavior of health user entrepreneurs across countries, indicating that common macro-level conditions affect this phenomenon in a nonlinear way.FindingsHealthy user innovators are more likely to become entrepreneurs in those countries where creativity, economic opportunities and business environment are increasing from the lower level until a certain threshold. After that level, user entrepreneurship seems to be not relevant.Originality/valueWe contribute to the extant literature about macro-level determinants of entrepreneurship by exploring how much such conditions impact on the decision to create new firm by user innovators.

Perception of Immigrants in Europe: A Multilevel Assessment of Macrolevel Conditions

ObjectiveIn recent times, immigration has been a controversial topic. Discussions about immigration have become common household conversation. The primary objective of the current study is to explore the dynamics of native‐born citizens' attitudes toward immigrants and examine the potential influence of macro‐level conditions.MethodsThe current study employed multi‐level techniques to examine macro‐level effects on attitudes toward immigrants across 22 European countries. Specifically, three Hierarchical Linear Models were conducted to achieve the study's stated objective.ResultsThe Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) analyses revealed that a country's level of economic development as measured by changes in gross domestic product (GDP) and education significantly influenced native‐born citizens' views about immigrants. Moreover, the number of immigrants (per 1,000 residents) and crime rates determine whether native‐born Europeans will view foreigners positively or negatively. Nevertheless, a country's unemployment rate had no significant effect on perceptions of immigrants. Several individual‐level characteristics were found to predict perceptions of immigrants among native‐born Europeans.ConclusionResults from this endeavor provide insights for addressing common misconceptions about immigration and also help in understanding, from empirical standpoint, how native‐born citizens form their views about immigrants.

On wake-up calls and metaphors: comment on Braithwaite “crime as a cascade phenomenon”

ABSTRACT Braithwaite’s provocation to see crime (and its prevention) through a “cascade lens” is certainly a wake-up call for macrocriminologists. As a metaphor it has the capability to motivate new directions in criminological research, however this also limits its potential as organising structure for testing important propositions. I argue that two strategies are required to move the cascade concept from a metaphor to an analytical tool. First, it needs to be made operational and testable, and in order to do so it has to be dissected and taken apart. Second, rather than losing sight of exogenous factors aka macro-level structural conditions (like poverty and concentrated disadvantage) we have to identify the relation between deeply rooted structures and micro-level decision making, and separate dynamic processes from their exogenous conditions. The comment starts with a number of questions for a fierce critic of our trade.

Leveraging the macro-level environment to balance work and life: an analysis of female entrepreneurs’ job satisfaction

This study investigates the interactive effect of female entrepreneurs’ experience of work–life imbalance and gender-egalitarian macro-level conditions on their job satisfaction, with the prediction that the negative linear relationship between work–life imbalance and job satisfaction may be buffered by the presence of women-friendly action resources, emancipative values, and civic entitlements. Data pertaining to 7392 female entrepreneurs from 44 countries offer empirical support for these predictions. Female entrepreneurs who are preoccupied with their ability to fulfill both work and life responsibilities are more likely to maintain a certain level of job satisfaction, even if they experience significant work–life imbalances, to the extent that they operate in supportive macro-level environments.

Religious Involvement, Moral Community and Social Ecology: New Considerations in the Study of Religion and Reentry.

To examine the link between an individual's religious involvement in prison and recidivism and assess how macro-level conditions in the counties to which individuals return shape this relationship. Using data from 1362 previously incarcerated people, a series of hierarchical generalized linear models are used to examine the extent to which an individual's religious involvement in prison relates to recidivism post-release. We also examine how county-level religious adherence, economic disadvantage, and potential social service assistance directly affect recidivism, and how each shape the relationship between religious involvement and recidivism. Findings show that county-level religious adherence was directly associated with lower recidivism, but individual-level religious involvement was not when assessing recidivism over longer periods of time post-release. Cross-level interactions revealed that county-level resource deprivation conditions the effect of individual religious involvement. Findings have theoretical implications for the study of religion and reentry. Methodologically, failing to account for the religious context of counties, in addition to micro-macro linkages, harms individual level research on religion and reentry.

Comparative Study between Bone Tissue Engineering Scaffolds with Bull and Rat Cancellous Microarchitectures on Tissue Differentiations of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells: A Numerical Investigation

Tissue-engineered bone scaffolds provide temporary mechanical support for bone tissue growth. Mechanical stimuli are transferred to seeded cells through the scaffold structure to promote cell proliferation and differentiation. This paper presents a numerical investigation specifically on bone and cartilage tissue differentiation with the aim to provide a theoretical basis for scaffold design and bone defect repair in clinics. In this study, the scaffold structures were established on the basis of cancellous bone microarchitectures. For finite element simulations, inlet velocity and compressive strain were applied under in vitro culture conditions. The influences of this scaffold morphology and macro-level culture conditions on micro-mechanical stimuli at scaffold surfaces were investigated. Correlations between the microarchitectural parameters and the mechanical parameters, as well as the cell differentiation parameters were analyzed. Highly heterogeneous stress distributions were observed on the scaffolds with irregular morphology. Cell differentiation on the scaffold was more sensitive to the inlet velocity than the axial strain. In addition, cartilage differentiation on the scaffolds with structures comprising more plate-like trabeculae was more pronounced than on those with more rod-like trabeculae. This paper is helpful to gain more insight into the mechanical environments under in vitro culture conditions that approximate the in vivo mechanical environments of Bone Marrow Stromal Cells (BMSCs).

Social Cohesion and Its Correlates: A Comparison of Western and Asian Societies

AbstractTrust can either be conceived of as a social glue in its own right, or as a constitutive element of a larger societal syndrome, termed social cohesion. This contribution takes the latter perspective, analyzing social trust and trust in institutions as integral parts of social cohesion more generally. Despite ongoing worries about the state of social cohesion in contemporary societies, surprisingly little is known as to which macro-level conditions actually weaken social cohesion, and which foster it. It remains an open question whether social cohesion is shaped by universal social forces that work similarly in various world regions, or by region-specific ones (the same holds true for outcomes of social cohesion). Against this background, the present paper seeks to advance our understanding of correlates of social cohesion by systematically comparing Western and Asian societies. The empirical analysis is based on the most comprehensive index of social cohesion currently available, the Bertelsmann Social Cohesion Radar. In separate analyses of 34 Western and 22 Asian societies, the authors explore the associations of economic, social, political, and cultural conditions with cohesion, as well as the associations between cohesion and population well-being. The results suggest that while some correlates (such as economic prosperity) can indeed be considered universal, others (e.g. income inequality, political freedom) work differently in Western and Asian societies. The authors link these findings to sociological and cross-cultural psychological theories on Asian modernization and Asian values. The practical conclusion is that not all policy recommendations for strengthening social cohesion can easily travel from one world region to another.

Judicial Trustworthiness in Africa: Do Macro-Level Conditions Matter?

The current study’s primary goal was to assess the extent to which specific macro-level conditions cause variation in citizens’ levels of trust in courts across 33 African countries. Using an advanced analytical technique, results revealed that a country’s levels of democracy has a significant and positive relationship with citizens’ trust in the court. However, institutional corruption and crime (homicide rate) had significant and negative relationship with citizens’ trust in the court. Moreover, findings observed indicate that the relationship between macro-level factors and trust in the court is mediated by region of the country. Policy implications of the findings are discussed.

Chinese foreign acquisitions aimed for strategic asset-creation and innovation upgrading: The case of Geely and Volvo Cars

The acquisition and integration of Western companies into Chinese business groups, the impact of host country region innovation dynamics, and the consequences for Chinese firms' innovation capabilities represent a void in the existing literature. This study applies an in-depth longitudinal case study of a cross-border M&A and links the strategic asset-augmentation literature and location theories to address the influence of target firm characteristics on the acquiring firm's innovation capabilities. Results show how the acquisition decision is influenced by post-acquisition accessibility to, and leverage of, firm-level capabilities, macro-level conditions, and the ability to draw advantages from host country regional innovation dynamics to leverage global innovation capabilities. The study extends the asset-augmentation literature to include the notion of strategic asset-creation as a motive for M&A and demonstrates the dynamics of strategic asset-creation in the automotive industry. This study makes three contributions. First, it provides a definition of strategic asset-creation in the automotive industry; Second, it provides a more comprehensive explanation of the importance of spatial dynamics in regional attractiveness in strategic asset-creation processes of emerging market MNCs (EMNCs); Third, it demonstrates how EMNCs harness, absorb, and create new strategic assets.

“Identifying enabling factors of science-policy interaction in a developing country context: A case study of South Africa's environment sector”

The integration of science into environmental policymaking has become a prime topic of decision-makers and scholars worldwide. The current body of research, however, is characterised by a narrow focus on the global North; moreover, the impact of meso- and macro-level conditions on science-policy interaction is largely ignored.In light of these gaps, the aim of this paper is to highlight enabling factors of ‘boundary work’ in a developing country context, using South Africa's environment sector as empirical case. The findings are based on qualitative document analysis and expert interviews.Taking the South African National Biodiversity Institute as a starting point, the paper identifies three factors related to the policy domain that seem decisive for its effectiveness: supportive law that constitutes a crucial source of legitimacy for boundary work; the availability of an absorptive administration, which is willing and able to take up expertise; and the existence of a strong science community producing policy-relevant knowledge that deals with the country's specific problems. Without such conducive conditions, the author infers, boundary work in the sector would not have the same level of impact. The paper calls for more research on the context of science-policy interaction, not only but particularly in developing countries.

Trade and synchronization in a multi-country economy

Countries with strong trade linkages have more synchronized business cycles. However, the standard international business cycle framework cannot replicate this finding, uncovering the trade-comovement puzzle. Modeling trade using more sophisticated micro-level assumptions does not help resolve the puzzle. This happens because for a large class of trade models, under certain macro-level conditions, output comovement is determined by the same factor structure. We show that in such models comovement can be explained by three factors: (i) the correlation between each country's TFP; (ii) the correlation between each country's share of expenditure on domestic goods; and (iii) the correlation between each country's TFP and the partner's share of expenditure on domestic goods. An empirical investigation of the link between trade and each of the three factors shows that the trade-comovement relation is in large part explained by the second factor while in the theoretical model this factor reacts counterfactually to changes in trade costs.