Self-interest Theory Research Articles

Implicit Black identification among White non-Hispanic respondents and support for Black reparations

Abstract Theories of self-interest and ingroup-favouritism dominate Western thought. They give Black reparations in the US little chance of electoral success while African Americans remain a minority. Could Black reparations become feasible despite this limitation? I propose ‘relational identity theory’, a combination of Simon’s (1993) utility theory as well as Aron and Aron’s (1986) self-expansion theory, as an alternative to theories of self-interest and ingroup-favouritism. The theory allows for the inclusion of an outgroup in the self-concept. An online reaction-time procedure (n = 1,341) suggests that among White non-Hispanic respondents, implicit Black identification is the strongest predictor of support for Black reparations. Pooled reaction-time data from three studies involving 1,594 White non-Hispanic respondents suggests that implicit Black identification is based on feelings of closeness, warmth, and empathic concern for African Americans resembling Black group attachment. Significant implicit Black identifiers among White non-Hispanic respondents fall between Black non-Hispanic and other White non-Hispanic respondents in their race-related political opinions. ‘Relational identity theory’ can help economists, political scientists, and psychologists explain how majority domination (e.g. slavery and Jim Crow in the United States) could be overcome despite the democratic principle of majority rule. The theory suggests that Black reparations might become politically feasible one day.

Analysis of the motivation and impact of the implementation of the employee stock ownership plan

Equity incentive can be divided into executive equity incentive (Executive Stock Option) and employee equity incentive (Employee Stock Option). Employees here refer to the intermediate managers, core technical personnel and other employees except for the senior executives of the company. The ESOP is a mechanism by which the employees of the company share the ownership of the company by holding the stock or options of the company. From the perspective of the implementation of the employee stock ownership plan motivation, its main theoretical basis can be divided into three categories, respectively is incentive theory (incentive theory, reduce agent costs, attract, retain quality employees and limited to financing constraints, reduce cash pressure), signal theory (undervalued company more inclined to internal equity incentives, let investors aware that the current company price relative to its internal value deviation) and major shareholders self-interest theory. From the theoretical point of view, this paper discusses the possible motives and results of domestic listed companies to launch the stock ownership plan, in order to provide theoretical support for small and medium investors to rationally understand the employee stock ownership plan, and provide regulatory suggestions to the regulatory authorities to be vigilant about the self-interest behavior of major shareholders.

Markets and socially responsible behavior: do punishment and religion matter?

We use a set of lab-in-the-field experiments to study whether markets erode socially responsible behavior in a typical Sub-Saharan African country. In the first experiment, we randomly assign participants to a version of a game framed as a “market” context or as a “neutral” (non-market) context. Contrary to the prediction of pure self-interest theory, market participants exhibit considerable levels of socially responsible behavior. However, participants in the market context reveal a lower level of socially responsible behavior compared to the participants in the non-market contexts. We also report that punishment and religion play a significant role in promoting socially responsible behavior in markets. In a second experiment, we test whether the erosion of socially responsible behavior leads to anti-social behavior using the joy-of-destruction game. The results show that the erosion of socially responsible behavior triggers anti-social behavior. Finally, we look at welfare effects and find that our market baseline yields lower welfare compared to markets regulated by punishment mechanisms.

Reviewing Academic Integrity: Assessing the Influence of Corrective Measures on Adverse Attitudes and Plagiaristic Behavior.

The world relies on authentic research that guides legislation, policy formulations, and governmental and corporate actions. Therefore, researchers globally should be aware of academic integrity and publication ethics. This research delved into plagiarism that severely undermines any scientific study. It explores the relationship between adverse attitudes (attitudes that favor plagiarism) and plagiaristic behavior. We probed deeper into the theories of planned behavior, reasoned action, and ethical theories of rational self-interest, cultural acceptance, and deontology to propose corrective measures as an intervention to reduce adverse attitudes and plagiaristic behavior. Upon empirical testing of the said propositions through two studies (Study 1, n1 = 2609; Study 2, n2 = 2678), we ascertained a significant negative relationship between corrective measures and adverse attitudes and corrective measures and plagiaristic behavior. We also empirically examined the mediating effect of adverse attitudes on the relationship between corrective measures and plagiaristic behavior. The results confirm the mediation model, in which academics subjected to corrective actions reported reduced plagiaristic behavior through reduced adverse attitudes. The findings further the literature on plagiarism and provide crucial implications for managing plagiaristic behavior among academics. The study also provides specific corrective actions that educational administrators should initiate to ensure academic integrity.

Economic Strain in Post-Communist Countries and the Rest of Europe: Attitudes Towards the Unemployed and the Old

This paper investigates attitudes towards the welfare state measured as government responsibility towards the standard of living of the unemployed and the old. The article focuses on the differences between post-communist countries and the rest of Europe, contextualised using the self-interest theory, specifically economic strain. Data on thirty one European countries gleaned from the European Social Survey collected in 2008 and 2016 are analysed using multilevel methods. The findings show that even though citizens in post-communist countries are purportedly more in favour of government intervention in regard to the welfare state, perceptible differences emerge based on individual characteristics, namely economic strain, combined with whether the respondent lives in a post-communist country. The cross-national differences in welfare support between post-communist countries and the rest of Europe are largely driven by differences in economic strain, with citizens in post-communist countries that struggle financially exhibiting higher support for welfare state provisions in comparison to their peers in countries without a communist legacy.

Sociocultural Dynamics of Welfare Support in Central Asia: Findings from Nationally Representative Surveys

This study assesses how the countries of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia are attempting to utilize welfare reform to address the growing concerns around wealth inequality. Specifically, it seeks to better understand citizen support for welfare services within these two countries and how cultural aspects of these two societies have shaped the welfare reform dialogue and service planning processes. The authors used nationally representative data from Life in Transition surveys (LiTS) conducted in 2010 (N = 1,000 in Kazakhstan; N = 1,016 in Kyrgyzstan) and 2015 (N = 1,505 in Kazakhstan; N = 1,500 in Kyrgyzstan) by the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. The study performs empirical testing of hypotheses of welfare support based on theories of self-interest, reciprocity, and Muslim identity. Findings indicate that: (a) the use of public services increased the support for welfare programs; (b) personal encounters with bribing reduced the support for welfare over time; and (c) the Muslim identity increased the willingness to pay more taxes among citizens for such services. Future studies should include assessing the religiousness and Zakat-related adherence of Muslim respondents.

The (a)symmetric effects of income and unemployment on popular demand for redistribution

Numerous studies show that those with lower income and the unemployed support more redistribution, which is attributed to material self-interest. However, recent studies assessing within-individual changes result in smaller and less consistent effect estimates. To explain why preferences do not narrowly follow material self-interest, this study argues that the effects of income and unemployment may be asymmetric, implying that improving and deteriorating material circumstances exert differently sized effects. The claims are tested using panel data from Great Britain and a weighted difference-in-difference estimator. The results show that only income increases (negatively) affect redistribution support while income decreases have null effects. In contrast, unemployment is estimated to have a strong and symmetrical effect in line with self-interest theory. These results add further evidence for the validity of self-interest theories but suggest that individuals are only boundedly rational. Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2021.1963139 .

Networking within Divisional Secretaries and its Impact on Organizational Performance (Special reference to Divisional Secretaries in Sri Lanka)

The networking among organizations and within the organization is very important to achieve vision, mission and the performance of any organization. Although there are studies about networking in a global context, it is hard to find networking related studies in the local context. Therefore, this study of networking within divisional secretaries and its impact on their performance is important. The main objective of this study is to analysis the networking within the divisional secretaries and its impact on the performance of those divisional secretaries. The studies depend upon the answers based on the questionnaire survey. Although the networks fall into two principal categories such as inter-firm networks and inter-personal networks, this study is limited to studying interpersonal network. The network is a vague concept and it consists of a set of actors (“nodes”) and the relations (“ties” or “edges”) between these actors. Relevant literature discussed to build the analytical framework and different theories of networking such as theories of self-interest, social exchange and dependency theory, mutual interest and collective action, a family of cognitive theories and theory of homophily. It reviewed the relevant literature on job performance and networking related performance. It also discussed the divisional administration and divisional secretaries. In this study impact of networking on the performance of divisional secretaries was measured with five independent variables such as instrumental network, expressive network, friendship network, advice network and knowledge network. Primary and secondary data were used to analyze the networking related performance. The survey was done throughout the all divisional secretaries in Sri Lanka via a questionnaire and collected data were analyzed by using Structural equation modelling (SEM). According to the study, the most important and affected networking activity which was highly affected by the performance is the knowledge network. Friendship network and instrumental network are the second and third networks effects on performance that is to follow on respectively. The expressive network has a moderate effect on performance while the advice network shows no positive effect on performance.

On the Justifications of Contemporary Global Justice Theories

Abstract Contemporary global justice theories could be introduced and reduced to three kinds: the deontological approach, the theory of obligation, and the theory of self-interest. Our analysis finds that only the theory of obligation and the theory of self-interest provide strong enough justifications for developed states and their people to assist underdeveloped states and their people. However, the theory of obligation requires some special preconditions, and the theory of self-interest cannot proceed in the name of justice, so we conclude that contemporary global justice theories are not tenable.

The concealed gift

If homo economicus exists anywhere, surely he must be found among financial traders. Amid the shouting and shoving of trading pits and the manic clicking and phone slamming of electronic trading desks, the atomized, rational, self-interested agency of neoclassical economic theory appears to emerge. Ethnographers of traders have refuted atomism and instead proposed a socially embedded but still rational and self-interested agent: an embedded homo economicus. I take this critique a step further and argue that traders are neither rational nor self-interested. Certainly, traders present themselves as rational and self-interested, but a ‘thick’ understanding of their social performances and cultural forms proves otherwise. My analysis focuses on the practice of friendly betting among Chicago traders. Despite its competitive appearances, friendly betting constitutes a non-rational, non-self-interested system of gift exchange and evinces why the myth of embedded homo economicus is both beguiling and false. This conclusion cuts to fundamental issues of agency and practice, and calls for widespread scepticism of theories of rational self-interest. As neoclassical economic theory and market ideology spread around the globe and rational self-interest becomes increasingly normalized, we must be wary of confirmation bias and remember the old ethnographic principle that people aren’t always what they say they are.

The Role of Third-Party Rankings in Status Dynamics: How Does the Stability of Rankings Induce Status Changes?

Most explanations of status dynamics rely on market actor behavior or affiliation to other actors as the primary drivers of change. Yet status is increasingly mediated by third-party intermediaries, which impart status through their ordering of actors. Prior literature suggests that these rankers can affect status orders via changes in the underlying ranking methodology but offers little insight as to whether such changes reflect existing field beliefs or are self-interested. We advance a theory of ranker self-interest, whereby rankers adopt specific behavior to maintain audience attention and increase their chance for survival. We hypothesize that, by threatening audience attention, temporal stability in rankings (an endogenous property of many status systems) induces rankers to self-generate changes in the ranking. We examine the role of stability of rankings in promoting structural changes by rankers using Institutional Investor magazine’s All-America Research Team (all-stars), a widely studied and eminently impactful ranking of equity analysts.

Farmers' identity, property rights cognition and perception of rural residential land distributive justice in China: Findings from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province

Justice in rural residential land distribution is vital to both farmers' living security and social stability in China. Based on the Self-interest Theory and endowment effect, this article discusses the impact of farmers' identity and property rights cognition on their perceptions of rural residential land distributive justice using the survey data of 565 rural households in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China by principal component analysis and binary logistic regression. The results indicate that (1) farmers' identity would impact their perceptions of rural residential land distributive justice, among different farmers, perceptions of rural residential land distributive justice differed greatly; (2) there is a negative relationship between farmers' perceptions of rural residential land distributive justice and their private property rights cognition; (3) farmers' private property rights cognition would be an amplifier to the impact of their identity on rural residential land distributive justice perceptions. We finally argue that rural residential land policy judgment about injustice should focus on farmers' identity, and the government should protect legitimate rights and interests of farmers in the process of rural residential land distribution.

Symbolic Racism or Self-Interest? Comparing Rural and Urban Worries about Obamacare

Framed by the theory of symbolic racism versus self-interest, this study sought to investigate differences, if any, between rural and urban residents’ concerns about Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act). First, we found that rural residents are significantly more worried about Obamacare. Second, regarding symbolic racism, ratings of Muslims (but not blacks or immigrants) predicted worry about Obamacare for rural and urban respondents. Third, different self-interest measures were predictive for the rural and urban samples. Rural residents who worried about becoming ill were more worried about Obamacare. Urban residents who worried about money were more worried about Obamacare. We conclude with recommendations for framing health care reform in ways that might reduce concerns among rural and urban people.

Self-interest and the modernity of homo economicus

PurposeCriticism directed at neoclassical economics has failed to replace it with a similar grand theory. The authors argue that one possible explanation may lie in the failure of economists to formulate an opinion as to the philosophical foundations of the author’s object of study. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe argument proceeds in two steps. First, the authors review the prevailing philosophical view of “the self-interest theory (S)”, which is one of the most powerful constituents of today’s economics, and social theorizing in general. Second, the authors present a reasoning framework in which rationality becomes intelligible within a schema of integrating the self’s external and internal conditionalities into a unified view of human reasoning.FindingsSelf-interest has been supposed to give the authors direction about what, concretely, to do, but, on the way, the authors have learned that defining rationality is necessarily a life-dependent process. The conflicts of reasons call for a revised S according to which rationality implies consistency among a person’s competing behavioural drivers rooted in three ontological realms, natural, social, and cultural.Originality/valueFirst, understanding the purpose of one’s actions in rational terms demands redirecting attention from outcomes in terms of utility, profits, or welfare to a social profile of a rational person, with real life coordinates in space and time, as well as the personal histories of that individual. A change in explaining aspirations leads, and this is the second implication, to change in defining the meaning of economic (or social) behaviour. Decision making is not necessarily a process of virtuously selecting the best available options, but assessing and acting according to the opportunity of choice; it is not about freedom of choice, but about the degree of freedom a person is willing and is able to take advantage of.

Implementing Data Definition Consistency for Emergency Department Operations Benchmarking and Research.

The objective was to obtain a commitment to adopt a common set of definitions for emergency department (ED) demographic, clinical process, and performance metrics among the ED Benchmarking Alliance (EDBA), ED Operations Study Group (EDOSG), and Academy of Academic Administrators of Emergency Medicine (AAAEM) by 2017. A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of available data from three ED operations benchmarking organizations supported a negotiation to use a set of common metrics with identical definitions. During a 1.5-day meeting-structured according to social change theories of information exchange, self-interest, and interdependence-common definitions were identified and negotiated using the EDBA's published definitions as a start for discussion. Methods of process analysis theory were used in the 8 weeks following the meeting to achieve official consensus on definitions. These two lists were submitted to the organizations' leadership for implementation approval. A total of 374 unique measures were identified, of which 57 (15%) were shared by at least two organizations. Fourteen (4%) were common to all three organizations. In addition to agreement on definitions for the 14 measures used by all three organizations, agreement was reached on universal definitions for 17 of the 57 measures shared by at least two organizations. The negotiation outcome was a list of 31 measures with universal definitions to be adopted by each organization by 2017. The use of negotiation, social change, and process analysis theories achieved the adoption of universal definitions among the EDBA, EDOSG, and AAAEM. This will impact performance benchmarking for nearly half of US EDs. It initiates a formal commitment to utilize standardized metrics, and it transitions consistency in reporting ED operations metrics from consensus to implementation. This work advances our ability to more accurately characterize variation in ED care delivery models, resource utilization, and performance. In addition, it permits future aggregation of these three data sets, thus facilitating the creation of more robust ED operations research data sets unified by a universal language. Negotiation, social change, and process analysis principles can be used to advance the adoption of additional definitions.

사회복지사의 복지태도 영향 요인: 서울지역을 중심으로

The purpose of this study examines the tendency and determinants of welfare attitudes for social workers in Seoul province. Based on Survey data, this study focuses mainly on how socialization patterns, self-interest, and value and norm influence attitudes towards welfare. The results of this study are as follows. First, The self-interest theory has a limit to explain welfare attitudes for social workers in Seoul province. Second, Ideology factor has an impact on welfare attitudes for social workers in Seoul province. In other words, egalitarian social workers have more pro-welfare attitudes. Based on findings, this study suggested that strengthening value of equality in welfare policy and program.

Attitudes toward public pensions in Chile, Uruguay, and Venezuela: Testing self-interest and political ideology theories in Latin American countries

The historical strength of Latin American public pension systems and the changes many countries are making in the contemporary period warrant understanding attitudes about public pensions in Latin America. Data were examined for three countries: Chile, Uruguay, and Venezuela, to see whether commonly tested welfare state theories explain individual differences in attitudes in these countries. Using basic multilevel modeling techniques, we find both individual- and country-level differences in attitudes toward government responsibility for and spending on public pensions. Understanding what predicts these attitudes in Latin America will help improve approaches to social welfare in this region.

Gun Control in the United States

Guns in the United States are viewed as a sacred emblem to its independence from Great Britain. Recent mass shootings have reignited the gun-control/rights debate in the US. Gun violence can be described as the use of firearms to cause terror through harm or death to an individual or groups of people. It has claimed many innocent peoples’ lives thus resulting in national tragedies in the U.S. The main issue lies in the ownership and issuances of unlicensed guns. Some argue that in order for the crime rates due to gun violence to decline, the U.S. government needs to directly control the distribution of guns. The 2nd amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that,“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” (U.S. Const. Am. 2). Those who read the Constitution with a loose interpretation believe that gun control is not unconstitutional, however, those who read the Constitution with a strict interpretation believe that gun control would prohibit people from excercising their 2nd amendment right to keep and bear arms. The purpose of this literature review is to explore the scholarship on gun control by examining public opinion polls in the U.S., the ideological divide between advocates for gun control and gun rights, race and racial attitudes, self-interest theory, contemporary mass shootings and the future of gun control.

The Walking Dead: Late Liberalism and Masculine Subjection in Apocalypse Fictions

From The Road to The Walking Dead, contemporary apocalyptic fictions narrativize the conjunction of two central “crises”: late liberal capitalism and twenty-first-century masculinity. This conjunction underlines the insights of a variety of scholars and cultural critics who analyze the “crisis” of contemporary masculinity, often specifically white masculinity, as a product of recent economic and social transformations, including the perceived disempowering of white male authority in a neoliberal era of affective labor, joblessness and multiculturalism. But the apocalypse, especially as a television series, is a rather peculiar narrative vehicle for the articulation of a transformative future for – or a nostalgic return to – masculine agency and authority. Focussing on questions of subjection and agency in the late liberal/neoliberal moment, I suggest that zombie apocalypse stages a debate on the status of masculine agency that has roots extending deep into the foundations of liberal modernity and the gendered selfhood it produces – roots that are ironically exposed by the popular cultural referent that dominates The Walking Dead: the frontier myth. The frontier and the apocalypse both draw from Hobbesian prognostications of a state of nature as relentless competition and a war of “all against all” that are foundational to modern liberal political theory and questions of sovereignty, self-interest, and collective governance. But they also index a narrative antidote to the erasure of political agency as traditionally enshrined in liberal democratic norms and traditions. Like the western, the zombie apocalypse speculates about possible ways in which masculine agency in liberal modernity might be reimagined and/or reinvigorated. In the place of a tired, automated neo-“official man”, the apocalypse in The Walking Dead promises an opportunity to “finally start living” – reminding us that white masculinity figures precisely the Enlightenment liberal subject-citizen and the authoritative, if highly fictional, agency which has been notoriously crushed within regimes of late capitalist biopower. And yet, even as the zombie apocalypse engages foundational myths of liberal modernity, it elaborates them in surprisingly nihilistic set pieces and an apparently doomed, serial narrative loop (there is no end to the zombie apocalypse and life in it is remarkably unpleasant). The eruption of haptic elements in the television show – especially in the visual and aural technologies that allow representations of bodies, suffering, dismemberment, mutability, disgust – further counters the apparent trajectory of apocalyptic allegory and opens it to alternative logics and directions. The narrative options of the zombie apocalypse thus seem to be moving “back” to a brutal settler colonial logic or “forward” to an alternative, perhaps more ethical, “zombie logic,” but without humans. This essay is interested in what these two trajectories have to say to each other and what that dialogue, and dialectic, indicate about contemporary economic governance as it is experienced and translated affectively into popular narrative and cultural product. That is, to what extent is the racist and economic logic of settler colonialism already infected by the specter of another logic of abjection and otherness, one that is figured both by the zombies and by the nonnarrative function of spectacles of embodied male suffering? And what does that slippage between logics and directions tell us about the internal workings of settler colonialism and economic liberalism that have always been lodged within mythic fantasies of the frontier?

Re-assessing self-interest theory: Can intergroup contact constrain self-interested reactions?

This article expands previous research on self-interested reactions and intergroup contact by showing that (1) intergroup contact constrains the impact of personal economic vulnerability on perceived out-group threat, (2) personal economic vulnerability has no influence on perceived out-group threat when contact is most intense, and (3) the ability of intergroup contact to reduce perceived out-group threat is strongest among the most economically vulnerable. These findings were generated by a fixed-effects regression of 21 countries and almost 34,000 respondents sampled in the European Social Survey (2002–2003). More generally, our findings suggest that self-interested reactions can be overpowered by the cognitive and affective components of intergroup contact. The concluding section expands on the theoretical implications of the results.