Social Norms Theory Research Articles

Understanding Alcohol and Illicit Drug Use in Young College Students: A Qualitative Work from India Based on Social Norms Theory

Background and Objectives: Substance use among young college students in India poses public health challenges. This study seeks to uncover the motivation behind alcohol and illicit drug consumption, applying social norms theory. Methods: This qualitative research utilized the framework method to analyze data from 14 college students (18–24 years) across various disciplines. Participants were selected using purposive sampling to ensure diversity in demographics and perspectives. Data collection was conducted online. The study used a combination of in-depth interviews (n = 14) and focused group discussions (n = 2). We used AtLAS.ti to facilitate data analysis. We used a mixed inductive and deductive coding approach. A mind map was generated to visualize the complex interplay between social norms and other individual and external mediators. Results: We identified 10 themes, 20 subthemes, and 42 codes. The themes revealed descriptive (e.g., media and modernization) and injunctive (e.g., availability and legality) social norms that facilitate substance use and social disapproval and stigma that might deter young people from using substances. Family and institutional support were also found to play a protective role. The individuals also weigh the personal consequences (e.g., health and academic harm) and advantages (e.g., coping and relaxation) of substance use, which can influence their decision to use substances. Gendered norms and subtle differences in the social norms between alcohol and illicit drugs were also identified. Conclusion: Our study illuminates culturally tailored substance use prevention/intervention strategies that operate at the social, individual, and policy levels.

Enhancing Professional Development for Science Teachers in Selected Elementary Schools in Suakoko Town, Bong County, Liberia

This paper probes into the multifaceted issues surrounding violence against women and challenges to girls' education in Liberia. Coomaraswamy's 2002 research underscored the role of cultural behaviors in family structures contributing significantly to violence against women. King and Winthrop's 2015 study explored factors such as poverty, gender norms, and cultural expectations, contributing to discussions on fair educational opportunities. Cunningham et al.'s 2023 research delved into gender disparities across economic, educational, healthcare, and political spheres, employing a women's empowerment perspective. Theoretical frameworks rooted in gender and social norm theories were employed to understand the impact of cultural identity on preschool girls' education in Liberia. The study focused on evaluating negative effects on preschool girls in Bong, Lofa, and Nimba counties, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions to create a supportive environment. Coomaraswamy's 2002 insistence on rejecting the use of cultural considerations to justify violence against girls resonates globally. The study also highlighted disparities in girls' primary school enrollment rates in the region compared to the global average, emphasizing the urgency of addressing educational inequalities. Overall, this paper contributes valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and communities, advocating for positive change in Liberia's educational landscape and women's empowerment.

Unveiling the Influence of Subjective Norms on Flood Preparedness Among Household Renters: The Moderating Effect of Trust in Public Protection

This research builds on the social norms theory to investigate the connection between subjective norms, flood preparedness intention, and flood preparedness behavior. Furthermore, this study investigates how trust in public protection moderates the causal link between subjective norms and flood preparedness intention. Purposive sampling was used in this study by administering an online survey to a random sample of 150 tenants in Malaysia’s East Coast Region. Structured equation modeling (SEM) utilizing Smart Partial Least Squares (SmartPLS) was then used to analyze the data. The results showed that subjective norms (SN) have a positive relationship with flood preparedness intention (INT), and INT has a positive relationship with flood preparedness behavior (FPB). Interestingly, trust in public protection negatively moderates the relationship between SN and INT. The findings will offer valuable insights for policymakers, renters, landlords, and community organizations to develop targeted interventions and bolster flood preparedness among household renters in the East Coast region, ultimately fostering resilience and mitigating the impact of future flood events. This study provides first-hand information on the predictors of flood preparedness behavior among household renters in the East Coast Region, Peninsular Malaysia.

Randomised experimental evaluation of a social media campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccination in Nigeria.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has challenged public health and behaviour change programmes, and has led to the development of innovative interventions and research. In low -and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as Nigeria, new strategies to promote vaccination, increase pro-vaccination social norms, and reduce vaccine hesitancy have been deployed through social media campaigns and evaluated using digital media platforms. We conducted two randomised experimental evaluations of social media content designed to promote COVID-19 vaccination and to complement research on a nationwide vaccination promotion campaign in Nigeria run in 2022. We conducted two studies in March and August 2022 among Nigerians drawn from 31 states that had not been targeted in the aforementioned nationwide campaign. We randomised the participants to either receive the pro-vaccination social media campaign or not and collected data at pre- and post-test time points to evaluate psychosocial predictors of vaccination and vaccination outcomes following the Theory of Change based on Diffusion of Innovations; the Social Norms Theory, and the Motivation, Opportunity, Ability (MOA) framework. Data were collected through a novel intervention delivery and data collection platform through social media. We found that pro-vaccination social norms and vaccination rates increased, while vaccine hesitancy decreased among participants randomised to the social media intervention study arm. Social media campaigns are a promising approach to increasing vaccination at scale in LMICs, while social norms are an important factor in promoting vaccination, which is consistent with the Social Norms Theory. This study demonstrates the capability and potential of new social media-based data collection techniques. We describe implications for future vaccination campaigns and identify future research priorities in this area. Pan African Clinical Trial Registry: PACTR202310811597445.

Exploring the Landscape of Media Campaigns That Encourage or Discourage Sustainable Diet Transitions for Americans, 1917–2023: A Systematic Scoping Review

United States (U.S.) and global experts recommend that populations reduce red and processed meat (RPM) intake and transition to plant-rich, sustainable diets to support human and planetary health. A systematic scoping review was conducted to identify the landscape of media campaigns that promote plant-rich dietary patterns, traditional plant proteins, and novel plant-based meat alternatives (PBMA) and that encourage or discourage RPM products to Americans. Of 8321 records screened from four electronic databases, 103 records were included, along with 62 records from gray literature sources. Across 84 media campaigns (1917–2023) identified, corporate marketing campaigns (58.6%) were most prevalent compared to public information (13.8%), corporate sustainability (12.6%), countermarketing (5.7%), social marketing (4.6%), and public policy (4.6%) campaigns. Findings indicate that long-running corporate RPM campaigns, many with U.S. government oversight, dominated the landscape for decades, running alongside traditional plant protein campaigns. Novel PBMA campaigns emerged in the past decade. Many civil society campaigns promoted plant-rich dietary patterns, but few utilized social norm or behavior change theory, and only the Meatless Monday campaign was evaluated. The U.S. government, academia, businesses, and civil society should commit more resources to and evaluate the impact of media campaigns that support a sustainable diet transition for Americans, restrict and regulate the use of misinformation in media campaigns, and prioritize support for plant-based proteins and plant-rich dietary patterns.

Local Gambling Culture and Enterprise Bribery: A Social Norms Theory Perspective

Abstract Based on social norms theory, we examine the impact of local gambling culture, an unexpected result of government-permitted lotteries, on enterprise bribery. We propose that local gambling cultures can promote active enterprise involvement in bribery activities by reinforcing the speculative psychology of enterprise decision-makers. In addition, we argue that local gambling culture is less likely to lead female (returnee) chairpersons to develop speculative psychology than male (nonreturnee) chairpersons. This, in turn, allows female (returnee) chairpersons to undermine the positive impact of local gambling culture on involvement in enterprise bribery. Based on 11 years of empirical data obtained from privately listed Chinese companies (including 2,637 listed companies with 15,036 firm-year data points), we obtain empirical evidence to support most of these views. This study is the first to explore the relationship between local gambling culture and enterprise bribery, and important insights are provided for shareholders and policy-makers to better curb enterprise bribery.

The Negative Effects of Cultural Identity on Preschool Girls in Bong, Lofa, and Nimba Counties of Liberia

This paper probes into the multifaceted issues surrounding violence against women and challenges to girls' education in Liberia. Coomaraswamy's 2002 research underscored the role of cultural behaviors in family structures contributing significantly to violence against women. King and Winthrop's 2015 study explored factors such as poverty, gender norms, and cultural expectations, contributing to discussions on fair educational opportunities. Cunningham et al.'s 2023 research delved into gender disparities across economic, educational, healthcare, and political spheres, employing a women's empowerment perspective. Theoretical frameworks rooted in gender and social norm theories were employed to understand the impact of cultural identity on preschool girls' education in Liberia. The study focused on evaluating negative effects on preschool girls in Bong, Lofa, and Nimba counties, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions to create a supportive environment. Coomaraswamy's 2002 insistence on rejecting the use of cultural considerations to justify violence against girls resonates globally. The study also highlighted disparities in girls' primary school enrollment rates in the region compared to the global average, emphasizing the urgency of addressing educational inequalities. Overall, this paper contributes valuable insights for policymakers, educators, and communities, advocating for positive change in Liberia's educational landscape and women's empowerment.

How do perceptions of others’ approval of, and engagement in, hand-held phone use influence young drivers? A mixed-method study

Engagement in hand-held phone use while driving is a prevalent issue among young drivers. Therefore, it is important to identify contributors to the behaviour. Social Norm Theory suggests that the perceptions of others’ approval of, and engagement in, a behaviour can influence one’s own engagement in the same behaviour. These perceptions can result in increased engagement in risky behaviours if they are over- or under- estimated. The current study implemented a mixed-method design to explore young drivers’ perceptions regarding their peers’/friends’ approval of, and engagement in, hand-held phone use while driving, and to identify the relative influence of perceived social norms on hand-held phone use while driving among young drivers. Overall, 510 young drivers completed a survey and 30 young drivers participated in interviews. Surveys and interviews questioned participants opinions on their own and others (peers and friends) approval of, and engagement in, hand-held phone use while driving. Quantitative results indicated that young drivers believe others approve of, and engage in, hand-held phone use while driving more than themselves. Perceived social norms significantly predicted increasing engagement in hand-held phone use while driving, however the magnitude of the effects were very small. Qualitative data provided a richer understanding of the topic, suggesting that the effects may be larger in certain groups who are particularly influenced by their peers/friends. Implications for future research are discussed with particular focus on exploring the use of a social norm approach in realigning perceptions of others approval of, and engagement in, hand-held phone use while driving.

Recruiting carers for older children and youth: Messages and methods of media campaigns

In recent decades, foster care systems across western countries have entered a state of crisis with the volume of children entering care outpacing new foster carers. Recruiting carers for older children and youth is particularly challenging, as most new foster carers and adoptive parents prefer younger children. This study reviews out-of-home care recruitment campaigns that target carers for older children and youth, across selected English-speaking countries. A total of 89 campaigns across five countries were analysed to identify common messages and use of persuasive methods (appeal to logic, emotion and character). Three categories of themes underpin the messages used to motivate people to care for an older child: child-focused, carer-focused and community-focused messages. To enhance the recruitment campaigns for carers of older children, the authors draw upon persuasion and social norms theories to recommend a framework integrating message framing, trusted and reliable messengers, collective values of target audience and use of persuasive methods.

Malay-Muslim women’s perceptions of sunat perempuan in the Malaysian context

Female circumcision (genital cutting) in Malaysia is largely understudied at present. This study unpacks the perceptions of Malay-Muslim women with regards to sunat perempuan (female circumcision) in Malaysia. Through stakeholder engagement discussions organised by a civil society organisation, 17 Malay-Muslim women shared their views in relation to the practice with a particular focus on: (1) their awareness and personal experience of it; (2) their opinions and knowledge about the practice; (3) beliefs related to the practice; and (4) the roles of relevant stakeholders in advocacy work related to the practice. The data were analysed thematically and interpreted based on the grammar of legitimation and social norms theory. The findings reveal several themes, involving the perceived benefits of the practice; tradition and conformity to social norms; conflicting emotions related to religion; and implicit pressure and fear of negative sanctions in relation to the practice. The findings shed light on the concerns faced by Malay-Muslim women in their decision-making process in relation to the practice of female circumcision in Malaysia.

(Up)Rooted cosmopolitanism: from anathema to an educational response to contemporary challenges

ABSTRACT In recent years there has been growing scholarly interest in education for cosmopolitanism, a normative social and political theory that views all human beings as citizens of a single global community. Based on the premise that changes in the world are reflected in changes occurring in discourse, this article explores the changes in the concept of cosmopolitanism from the dawn of history, through its rejection in Soviet Russia, to its re-emergence today as a viable educational response to the challenges of globalisation. In the last few decades, the slur of ‘rootless cosmopolitanism’ has turned into ‘rooted cosmopolitanism’ corresponding to a ‘both-and’ approach to both nationalism and cosmopolitanism. It has thus become a driver of educational change in an era marked by hybridity, uncertainty and dialectical non-binary ways of thinking and living in the world.

Assessing theory of mind and social norms understanding in Indian children: adaptation and validation of Edinburgh social cognition test

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to adapt and validate Edinburgh social cognition test (ESCoT) for Indian children. In addition, exploring the effect of demographics on ESCoT.Design/methodology/approachFor content validity, 10 practicing psychologists and clinical psychologists gave their feedback about the test scenarios based on which the items were retained. The adaptation process involved 100 participants aged between 6 and 12 years. Informed consent from parents and verbal assent from the participant were taken. Demographics were collected. Measures were individually administered. Data was scored and analyzed.FindingsSeven out of 10 scenarios were retained in content validity. Convergent validity, internal consistency and interrater reliability were found to be acceptable. Regression analysis indicates that age significantly predicts performance on ESCoT. Age is associated with the cognitive theory of mind, affective theory of mind and interpersonal social norms understanding.Originality/valueThe study provides evidence for validation of ESCoT. Results indicate acceptable psychometric properties of ESCoT. Thus, it is suitable for Indian settings and amongst children.

New policies, new behaviors: How digital taxation shapes mobile money use in Ghana

AbstractThe transition from traditional to digital payment platforms is reshaping domestic revenue mobilization, with significant impacts on sectors like agriculture, health, business, education and economy. This transition, while presenting both challenges and opportunities, has the potential to foster economic growth and boost revenue mobilization. This paper investigates how digital taxation or electronic levy (e‐levy) has shaped mobile money (MoMo) adoption in Ghana since the introduction of e‐levy on digital financial transactions. The underlying theories supporting this study include the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Social Norm Theory (SNT), and Expectancy‐Confirmation Theory (ECT). A cross‐sectional design was employed, and data was collected from 206 participants (mobile network subscribers) through a self‐administered online survey conducted and applied a partial least square structural equation modeling technique. The findings indicate that inherent innovativeness, the structure of the tax, and social tax compliance norms significantly influence citizens' compliance attitudes towards e‐levy in the context of a developing country. Conversely, the study found that potential taxpayers' attitudes towards e‐levy do not determine their intention to pay (actual use) e‐levy. In this respect, recommendations to drive the digital taxation agenda among government revenue agencies in developing countries are (i) continuous inherent innovativeness on the part of the government, (ii) ensuring compliance attitudes towards e‐levy, (iii) proper structuring of the tax components and (iv) ensuring ease of use of the system. These findings provide governments and revenue agencies, particularly those in developing countries, with valuable insights into citizens' behavioral change towards digital taxation on MoMo transactions. An effective convergence of the determinants discussed in this research would expedite government mobilization efforts for electronic levies and promote development.

Cultural influences on the effects of social norm appeals.

This study reports on an experimental test of the effects of descriptive and injunctive norm appeals on intentions to prevent food waste in China and the United States (N = 1449), testing the role of cultural context and group orientation in this process. Results showed that the main effects of descriptive and injunctive norm messages on behavioural intentions were mediated by normative perceptions, and cultural context moderated both paths of this mediation. Specifically, with the same message exposure, Chinese participants perceived food waste prevention as more prevalent and socially approved compared to US participants. Normative perceptions interacted with cultural context to influence behavioural intentions, such that both descriptive and injunctive norm perceptions predicted stronger intentions to prevent food waste among Chinese participants compared to Americans. Group orientation yielded a main effect on behavioural intentions, instead of the moderation effects as expected. Findings suggest the need for culturally grounded and contextualized approaches to communication of social norms, as well as building cultural concepts into theories of social norms. This article is part of the theme issue 'Social norm change: drivers and consequences'.

Does housing status matter? Evidence from Covid-19 infections in Hong Kong

Face-fo-face contact is known to be the primary transmission route of the Covid-19 virus. Social norm and positional good theories suggest that people would interact with others selectively in order to fulfil social needs and prevent infections simultaneously. Previous studies focus on the impact of conventional social status factors (e.g., income and occupation) on virus transmission. It is unclear whether housing status, as another proxy of social status, also plays a role. This article thus makes use of three salient housing features – housing price, ownership rate, and wealth gap – to elucidate housing status and its link to public health. We combine the data of Covid-19 cases, housing transactions, and Census statistics to quantitatively estimate the association between housing status and Covid-19 infections at the street block level in Hong Kong from January 2020 to December 2021. It is found that among infected neighbourhoods, those with lower housing prices, lower ownership share, and less variation in housing wealth face a larger risk of Covid-19 infections. The potential circular causation between housing status and viral transmission highlights the need for better coordination between public health and housing policies.

Social Conflict and the Evolution of Unequal Conventions

Abstract We propose a theory of social norms (or conventions) that implement substantial levels of inequality between men and women, ethnic groups, and classes and that persist over long periods of time despite being inefficient and not supported by formal institutions. Consistent with historical cases, we extend the standard asymmetric stochastic evolutionary game model to allow subpopulation sizes to differ and idiosyncratic rejection of a status quo convention to be intentional to some degree (rather than purely random as in the standard evolutionary models). In this setting, if idiosyncratic play is sufficiently intentional and the subordinate class is sufficiently large relative to the elite, then risk-dominated conventions that are both more unequal and inefficient relative to alternative conventions will be stochastically stable and may persist for long periods. We show that the same is true in a general bipartite network of the population if most of the subordinate groups interactions are local, while the elite is more “cosmopolitan”. We apply the model to the evolution of wage conventions on the bipartite network of workers and employers, and find that an unequal monopsonistic wage convention is robust to the idiosyncratic play of workers that otherwise might displace it.

Influence of societal norms in Mahesh Dattani’s Bravely Fought the Queen

Social norms are viewed as a guideline for appropriate behaviour among communities. Social norms can be codified into rules and laws or they can be informal understandings that guide how people of a society behave. The aim of the paper is to elucidate the influence of social norms in the play Bravely Fought the Queen. Norms are important because they help shape people's needs and preferences, which act as criteria for choosing between options. But the exceeded amount of people blindly following the unwritten norms creates a huge impact on the lives of women and men. The selected play has been subjected to in-depth topic analyses by the researcher through meticulous reading. The study aims to improve character analysis in the chosen work by adding the social norms theory perspective.

A developmental logic: Habermas's theory of social evolution

AbstractIn the paper, I first consider how his theory of social norms is connected to his theory of social evolution by examining the importance of learning in his theory of both social norms and social evolution. Then I turn to David Owen and Amy Allen's critiques of Jürgen Habermas. My aim is to develop their critique of Habermas by elucidating an important but neglected distinction between the developmental logic and the developmental dynamics in Habermas's theory of social evolution. Drawing on this distinction, I claim that Habermas's theory is problematic in that he underestimates the importance of the developmental dynamics. By introducing the distinction between individual learning and social learning, I also question his account of progress as accumulative experience of learning. This is because, unlike cumulative culture at the level of phylogenesis, individuals ontogenetically experience a kind of non‐cumulative social learning. Unlike cumulative culture, each individual has to undergo a kind of non‐cumulative social learning. The problem is that Habermas conceives the learning process too narrowly such that learning does not guarantee social evolution.

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL NORMS IN TAX COMPLIANCE BEHAVIOUR OF SMES IN EMERGING ECONOMIES LIKE UGANDA

Taxpayers have different motivations for paying taxes. How successfully taxpayers comply with the tax system will depend on the social standing of the taxpayers and the ability of the tax authority to impose the legal requirements for such a system. We have had minimal corporate tax revenue contributions to the overall tax revenue in Uganda, especially from small and medium corporations over the past decade and relatively little attention has been directed towards understanding what the challenge could be. Could corporate tax compliance behaviour be determined by the power dimensions or social psychological stance, and in which magnitude? Evidence has cast doubt on the ability of power dimensions to effectively influence tax compliance behaviour, suggesting that social norms may be an influential tool in determining tax compliance behaviour. Combining descriptive and analytical research design and utilising a structural equation model, the study helps to provide answers to these questions using social norms theory and the slippery slope framework. Descriptive norms generally have significant direct effects on tax compliance behaviour.

Day care availability and awareness of gendered economic risks: How they shape work and care norms

Family policies not only provide money, time and infrastructure to families, but also convey normative assumptions about what is considered desirable or acceptable in paid work and family care. This study conceptualises and empirically investigates how priming respondents with brief media report-like information on existing day care policy entitlements and economic consequences of maternal employment interruptions may change personal normative judgements about parental work–care arrangements. Furthermore, we analyse whether these effects differ between groups of respondents assumed to vary in their degree of affectedness by the information as well as previous knowledge. The theoretical framework builds on the concept of normative policy feedback effects combined with social norm theory and human cognition theories. The study is based on a fully randomized survey experiment combined with a vignette experiment in Wave 12 of the German Family Panel (pairfam). It applies linear and ordinal logistic regressions with cluster-robust standard errors to a sample of 5,783 respondents. Our results suggest that priming respondents with information on day care policy and long-term economic risks of maternal employment interruptions increases acceptance of intensive day care use across the full sample and especially for mothers with children below school entry age. It further increases support for longer maternal hours spent in paid work among childless women and mothers with school-aged children. Norms regarding paternal working hours are largely unaffected by the information given in this survey experiment.