Norm Formation Research Articles

Challenges in Norm Formation and Adherence

Due to the growing globalization of business processes, teamwork increasingly requires intercultural skills. Furthermore, many teams rely predominantly on electronic collaboration (virtual teams), requiring team members to develop and adhere to norms in a cue-deprived environment. In the current study, we conducted an online survey with 171 participants who fell into one of two subgroups of cross-cultural teams: members of either traditional or virtual teams. We compared the two groups of team members with regard to their importance ratings of several competencies for team performance. Starting with a large set of intercultural competencies derived from the literature, exploratory factor analyses yielded a four-dimensional solution (working conscientiously, coping with stress and ambiguity, openness and perspective taking, and knowledge about other cultures). Among those clusters, only the cluster working conscientiously yielded substantial differences between traditional and virtual-team members, indicating specific requirements for cross-cultural collaboration for virtual as compared to traditional teams.

Endogenous Norm Formation Over the Life Cycle – The Case of Tax Morale

Elderly are generally observed to have stronger tax morale than young people. We explain why this may be an age rather than a cohort effect. We apply mechanisms from social psychology to explain how personal norms may evolve over the life cycle due to past behavior (e.g., cognitive dissonance) and/or by the attitudes of peers (normative conformity). We can explain the difference between young and old people’s moral values as an age effect with heterogeneous norm-updating where those who identify with their network conform with it, while others are influenced by their own past behavior.

Embedding Consultation Procedures: Law or Institutionalization?

This contribution explores the implications of the European Commission's choice to include reporting on consultation in the set of impact assessment (IA) requirements. The text book story on how IA and consultation can only strengthen one another and benefit the citizen is contrasted to some more problematic riskier aspects of this joint Better Regulation (BR) vehicle. It then zooms in on two different pathways to stronger (legal) embedding of consultation: through review and through social and institutional processes of incremental norm formation.

The Emergence of a New Rule of Customary Law: An Experimental Contribution

Abstract For most legal rules, an evolutionary perspective may be elucidating. Yet it would be hard to claim that otherwise one misses the essence of the rule-making procedure. This paper uses experimental data to show that customary law is different. While some doctrinal concepts of this source of law try to freeze the resulting rule, and to isolate it from the process of rule generation, Maurice Mendelson (in a 1998 paper in ‘Recueil des Cours’) forcefully argues that this conceptualization misses the very difference between statutory (treaty-based) and customary international law. Consequently, he also challenges the conventional claim that for a new rule of customary law to originate, two conditions must be met: there must be consistent practice, and it must be shown that this practice is motivated by the belief that such behavior is required in law. Mendelson claims that this doctrine misses the fundamentally incomplete nature of public international law. He claims that a new rule emerges when mere practice leads to convergent expectations. This paper uses data from public good experiments to back Mendelson’s theory. This evidence demonstrates that behavior converges even absent verbal communication; that convergence is guided by mean contributions in the previous round, which serve as an implicit norm; that free-riding on this implicit norm is regarded as illegitimate; that cooperation can be stabilized at a high level if the functional equivalent of what public international lawyers call “reprisals” are permitted. Hence the mechanism of norm formation proposed by Maurice Mendelson is fully borne out by the experimental data.

Из истории становления словацкого литературного языка: кодификация А. Бернолака и формирование нормы в текстах бернолаковцев А. Руднаи и Ф. К. Габела

Konstantin V. LifanovFrom the History of Formation of the Slovak Literary Language: A. Bernolák’s Codification and Norm Formation in Texts of Bernolák’s Supporters A. Rudnay and Fr.K. Habel This paper deals with Bernolák’s codification in comparison with the real form of Ber­nolák’s literary language presented in sermons of the Hungarian Cardinal A. Rudnay and translation of the religious treatise from German by Fr. X. Habel. This comparison shows that in real practice Bernolák’s language changed its character, coming nearer to norm of traditional Slovak writing. As a result typical elements, the most widespread in a West Slovak dialect or characterizing peripheral the Záhorie dialect of West Slovakia and the Czech language, forced out the elements concentrated in the Central Slovak dialect. The found out phenomena testifies that the norm essentially different from codification was formed in Bernolák‘s language.

Is a Responsive Business also a Responsible Business?

While much has been written about corporate responsibility, arguments for transformation in the business & society relationship prevail. In this paper, the dominant normative and business-case perspectives of corporate responsibility are examined in light of their assumptions regarding change. Both rely on modernist, firm-centred assumptions regarding management agency. Change in the business and society relationship may require closer attention being paid to processes of social norm formation.

Communities, Crime, and Reactions to Crime Multilevel Models: Accomplishments and Meta-Challenges

Of interest here are theories about the impacts of both community and individual features on individual-level outcomes like victimization, reactions to crime like fear or avoidance, or related perceptions of features of local context such as perceived risk. Relevant community features could be almost anything, depending on the theory: demographic structural dimensions, land use features, reported crime rates, removal or return rates, or features of local social, cultural or political climate. Communities are areas where people live which are smaller than cities and larger than individual address parcels or land uses (Hunter 1979). Spatial communities exist at multiple levels, such as streetblocks within neighborhoods. (Taylor 1997). Crime refers to reported crime rates and self-reported victimization. Reactions to crime include concerns for personal safety such as fear of crime and worries for personal property, and more cognitively-weighted reactions such as perceptions of risk or assessments of crime severities in the locale (Dubow et al. 1979). A modified Boudon-Coleman “boat” diagram can be used as a metamodel for organizing our understanding of the types of links in theories about crime impacts or reactions to crime. See Fig. 1 (Boudon 1986: 29–31; Bunge 2006; Coleman 1990: 10). Although community attributes and changes are conditioned by broader societal and geographic factors such as de-industrialization (Kasarda 1992; Lane 1997) and suburban expansion (Marshall 1979) for example, the primary conceptual focus is on community-level features and individual-level features and dynamics. The Boudon-Coleman metamodel suggests two links are operative when individual-level outcomes are of interest: context effects of community features (macro-level inputs) on individual attributes (micro-level inputs) (Ma-I → Mi-I), and impacts of individual-level attributes on individual-level outcomes (micro-level outputs) (Mi-I → Mi-O). Of course, if spatially aggregated outcomes are of interest then the final link between individual-level outcomes and community-level outcomes (macro-level outcomes) (Mi-O → Ma-O) becomes relevant as well. This perspective assumes methodological individualism—the behaviors of individuals are key building blocks for social change—but is not tautological when considering aggregated outcomes (Boudon 1986: 53). Open image in new window Fig. 1 Meta-model orientation to crime, people, and places In such a theoretical frame the macro-to-micro and micro-to-macro links hold considerable theoretical interest (Liska 1990). The first tells us about how context shapes individual-level dynamics. The second tells us how agency operates. Methodological individualism is avoided when interpreting the second link since local social processes such as norm formation also shape such dynamics (Boudon 1986: 53; Coleman 1990: 22, 30, 265, 273,599). Even if attention is limited to aggregated individual actions without the concept of interdependencies, non-intuitive collective outcomes can arise (Boudon 1986: 57). The most central idea in this metatheoretical approach, given the current focus, is as follows: although ecological relationships between macro-level inputs and macro-level outputs can be modeled, understanding such macro-level dynamics (Ma-I → Ma-O) hinges on gaining insight into the constituent links in the chain: Ma-I → Mi-I → Mi-O → Ma-O. The ecological connection depends on the underlying macro → micro → micro → macro processes.

Promise and perils: the making of global money laundering, terrorist finance norms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to offer a preliminary comparison of the formation of money laundering and terrorist finance norms through international conventions and through Security Council resolutions.Design/methodology/approachThe formation of a global approach to criminal finance through the negotiation of international conventions is compared to the creation of a standardized approach through intervention by the United Nations Security Council.FindingsWhile the formation of norms through the Security Council is efficient, it risks jeopardizing the legitimacy of the institution. Formation through conventions, with the assistance of soft‐actors, however at times glacial, is preferred.Practical implicationsThe paper implies that the Security Council should seriously restrict any involvement in creating global norms attentive to terrorist funding.Originality/valueThe paper critiques global money laundering, and terrorist finance laws through the unique prism of norm formation. It demonstrates that the imperfect process of norm development through international conventions offers more promise than Security Council lead development.

An Experimental Contribution to the Theory of Customary (International) Law

In their majority, public international lawyers postulate that for a new rule of customary law to originate, two conditions must be fulfilled: there must be consistent practice, and it must be shown that this practice is motivated by the belief that such behaviour is required in law. Maurice Mendelson (Recueil des Cours 272 (1998) 155) has challenged this view. He believes that the majority view ignores the fundamentally incomplete nature of public international law. He claims that the new rule emerges because mere practice leads to convergent expectations. This paper uses data from student experiments with a linear public good to show that behaviour converges even absent verbal communication; that convergence is guided by mean contributions in the previous round, which serve as an implicit norm; that freeriding on this implicit norm is regarded as illegitimate; that cooperation can be stabilised at a high level if “reprisals” are permitted. Hence the mechanism of norm formation proposed by Maurice Mendelson is fully borne out by the experimental data.

Turning the Tide: Informal Institutional Change in Water Reuse

This paper examines the impact of public opinion, time, and the ‘yuck’ factor in influencing the formation of water reuse norms based on an analysis of newspaper content observed in two locations: Singapore and Queensland, Australia. A simple regression analysis shows that time and the ‘yuck’ factor were significant factors in norm formation but, surprisingly, public opinion was not found to be a significant factor. The results show that public opinion, long held to be an important factor, may not be significant in the sense in which it is commonly conceived. It also shows how perception can be shaped to promote water reuse policies in the urban sector. The formation of water norms was found to be crucial in determining the different outcomes in the implementation of water reuse policies in the two countries.

Turning the tide: informal institutional change in water reuse

This paper examines the impact of public opinion, time, and the ‘yuck’ factor in influencing the formation of water reuse norms based on an analysis of newspaper content observed in two locations: Singapore and Queensland, Australia. A simple regression analysis shows that time and the ‘yuck’ factor were significant factors in norm formation but, surprisingly, public opinion was not found to be a significant factor. The results show that public opinion, long held to be an important factor, may not be significant in the sense in which it is commonly conceived. It also shows how perception can be shaped to promote water reuse policies in the urban sector. The formation of water norms was found to be crucial in determining the different outcomes in the implementation of water reuse policies in the two countries.

Eliminating ‘Yuck’: A Simple Exposition of Media and Social Change in Water Reuse Policies

Water reuse is an efficient way of managing water resources in cities, but reuse policies have often been derailed by the ‘yuck’ factor. While yuck has often been thought of as a problem of public acceptance, this paper argues that there is a more profitable way to frame the issue—as a form of social construct by the media, forming the basis of new learning by the public. This is then illustrated by way of an analysis of newspaper articles in Australia and Singapore. Some preliminary implications for norm formation and possibilities for theory-building are discussed.

Gendered giving: the influence of social norms on the donation behavior of men and women

Abstract We study if men and women are subject to different influences when determining their level of charitable giving. In particular, we examine differential sensitivities to social norms among donors to a public radio station. Our survey of 975 donors finds that male donors are more likely than female donors to use social norms to inform their own behavior. We conduct a laboratory experiment to investigate the influence of social information on social norm formation and giving. Our results suggest that temporarily created social norms influence giving by men significantly more than by women. This result replicates and establishes the causal relationship between social norms and donations suggested by our field findings. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications of these results. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Global Norms Through Global Deliberation? Reflections on the World Commission on Dams

In recent years, global “deliberative processes” bringing together government, civil society, and private sector actors have become increasingly common on the global stage. Past work on these processes has either read them as relatively unproblematic consensus-building exercises, or exercises in global corporatism. Using a case study of the World Commission on Dams, this article explores how formal global deliberative processes can be a strategy for global norm formation and legitimation. It suggests that global deliberation can indeed be a vehicle for emergence and propagation of norms, but that these processes face multiple challenges that are structural in nature. Three factors are identified as key elements in understanding norm emergence through global deliberation: the legitimacy of global deliberation linked to questions of representation and democratic procedure; the micropolitics of norm emergence; and the process through which incipient norms are institutionalized by states.

Transnational Normative Struggles and Globalization: The Case of Indigenous Peoples in Bolivia and Ecuador

Since the 1990s, the indigenous rights movement has catapulted from resource-poor, local activists to global activists. The rise of transnational indigenous rights movements has paralleled and interfaced with significant structural developments at the international and state-systemic level, raising questions about the interplay between global and local politics as arenas of social change. To trace these transnational networks to the articulation of norms supportive of indigenous claims, we examine two cases of transnational indigenous activism and domestic responses in the Andean region of South America. We find that the additional dimension of domestic and transnational mobilization that first contests existing international norms, such as neoliberalism and individual rights, and then seeks to diffuse normative changes at both the domestic and international levels provides new insight about norm formation, transformation, and diffusion in international politics in favor of anti-globalization and community equality norms on local, national, and global levels.

Groundwater management in rice terraces: a case study of a lakeside community in Shiga Prefecture, Japan

This paper aims to clarify the process of norm formation to reach consensus on groundwater management among farmers in rice terraces in Japan. The modernisation and globalisation of water management have led to the disorganisation and reorganisation of local resource management systems and local knowledge. Field research was conducted in a lakeside community in Shiga Prefecture. Most of this area is covered with steep ranges of forests and rice paddies. The farmers in the area who had no water rights invented a device to share groundwater. The resulting new norms concerning groundwater management help to avoid conflicts among water users. The individual interests of farmers in disadvantaged areas have been adjusted to form unique communal norms, equalising individual differences, as well as to give birth to an alternative water management system based on consensus among users.

An Evolutionary Agent-Based Approach to Social Norm Emergence in Traffic Signals

For multi-agent systems such as our society, formation and maintenance of some “norms” are important to keep the system efficient and stable. However, mechanisms that such norm are formed, maintained and collapsed are not clear and very fruitful but difficult open problem. Agent-based simulation is a promising approach to this problem. This paper presents a compact framework of simulation with learning agents in traffic signal system as an example of norm formation. Through the implementation of the framework with Genetic Algorithm and some preliminary experiments, the potential of the framework is shown.

It is a theft but not a crime

Why do people who normally refrain from committing illegalities become digital pirates? In this paper we use a theoretical model of digital piracy combined with a game-theoretic mechanism of social norm formation to argue that no social stigma is attached to digital piracy because the latter has no perceived social cost; therefore, there is no pressure to build a norm condemning it. However, there also exists a “sophisticate” form of piracy focused on high-quality copies, and not on Internet downloads and black market purchases of low-quality copies like the most common form. Somewhat paradoxically, sophisticate piracy could help to generate a social attitude against piracy, because it is self-containing. However, it is limited in its scope, and it is difficult to predict whether it might ever become sufficiently widespread to effectively engender the formation of anti-piracy social norms.

In love and war: Altruism, norm formation, and two different types of group selection

We analyse simulations reported in “The co-evolution of individual behaviors and social institutions” by Bowles et al., 2003 in the Journal of Theoretical Biology 223, 135–147, and begin with distinguishing two types of group selection models. The literature does not provide different names for them, but they are shown to be fundamentally different and have quite different empirical implications. The working of the first one depends on the answer to the question “ is the probability that you also are an altruist large enough”, while the other needs an affirmative answer to “ are our interests enough in line”. The first one therefore can also be understood as a kin selection model, while the working of the second can also be described in terms of the direct benefits. The actual simulation model is a combination of the two. It is also a Markov chain, which has important implications for how the output data should be handled.

The Issues Involved in Cloning: Sociology and Bioethics

The law on bioethics passed by the French parliament in 2004 qualifies reproductive cloning as a “crime against the human species”, a clear indication of how threatened the social world feels by certain aspects of genetic engineering. This article analyses the many social issues involved in cloning. The field of bioethics constitutes a kind of open-air laboratory for anyone interested in studying norm formation processes in pluralist societies. Among other things it brings to light the intertwining of axiological or value-focused controversies and economic logic. After specifying what cloning is, the article reviews the stages through which the prospect of reproductive cloning as both reality and fantasy has become a focus of public debate. It then examines the main arguments for and against reproductive cloning, paying particular attention to arguments that refer to the danger cloning represents for the social tie (a blow to the principles of filiation, the resurgence of eugenics, etc.). Lastly, the article looks at the difficulties encountered when attempts are made to formulate a prohibition at the national and international levels. The conclusion seeks to demonstrate how certain biologists’ discourse on cloning represents a strong invitation for greater dialogue between the life sciences and sociology.