World Values Survey Data Research Articles

Exploring democracy and ethnic diversity as sociopolitical moderators for the relationship between age and generalized trust

Prior research has identified a positive relationship between age and generalized trust, which is not moderated by sociopolitical factors such as the Gini coefficient, the Human Development Index, and individualism, raising the question whether the age–trust relationship is free from sociopolitical influence. The current study re-examined this issue by taking an exploratory and cross-societal approach. I examined two sociopolitical factors—democracy and ethnic diversity—as potential moderators for the age–trust relationship. Multilevel random coefficient analyses of 86 societies' World Values Survey (1981–2008) data reveal that the age–trust relationship is positive across societies, thus replicating prior findings. However, ethnic diversity moderates (strengthens) this relationship, whereas democracy does not. Specifically, the age–trust relationship is positive in more ethnically diverse societies but null in more ethnically homogeneous ones. The current findings suggest that the age–trust relationship is not free from sociopolitical influence and that socioemotional selectivity theory alone is limited in explaining this relationship.

Global Social Tolerance Index and multi-method country rankings sensitivity

Social tolerance refers to the extent of recognition and acceptance of differences, willingness to grant equal rights, and refraining from openly intolerant attitudes. Utilizing World Value Survey (WVS) data (56 countries, 83,000 usable respondents), we develop a Global Social Tolerance Index (GSTI) that incorporates gender, minority, immigrant, and religion tolerance dimensions. We develop this index using a multi-step data-driven procedure involving five data standardizations, seven weighting approaches, and five aggregation methods. They generate 124 replications for each country’s index and rank, yielding a median overall position and several measures of rank sensitivity/robustness to different weighting, standardization, and aggregation approaches. It builds on prior social tolerance indexes in terms of scope and dimensionality, and avoids problems associated with equal or subjective weighting. The GSTI index/rankings provide a tool for IB scholars to examine nations’ overall tolerance or tolerance regarding each dimension relative to other external criteria. Our procedure can be used to develop other indexes and rankings of nations or organizations within a country or region. In practice, any such non-participatory method should always serve as a starting point to facilitate deliberations of experts and/or decision-makers for policy recommendations.

Occidentalism, Terrorism, and the Shariia State: New Multivariate Perspectives on Islamism Based on International Survey Data

Our article attempts to be yet another empirical contribution to the evolving international debate about global Islamist terrorism. We rely on the analysis of PEW and World Values Survey data from Muslim publics in different countries around the globe to analyze by multivariate promax factor analysis and standard OLS multiple regression which factors contributed to the approval or the rejection of terrorist acts, measured by such variables as the opinion on suicide bombing, Shari’a law and the favorability of terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah. We also analyze the drivers of general opinions on Islamic extremist groups and reactions to the ambitions of Iran and its nuclear program. We arrive at the conclusion that it would be wrong to define radical Islamism only in terms of the identification with outright support for the immediate “bomb-throwing terror”, while neglecting the underlying ideological and dangerous radicalism and also ongoing radicalization of such organizations as the Muslim Brotherhood or the Turkish Milli Gorus, which both start, like the most radicalized factions of Islamist terrorism, from the intense hatred of “Jews and Free Masons” and Western civilization as such, and which for many on both sides of the Atlantic appear as “moderate Islamists” and worthy partners of dialogue, while in reality they provide the fertile ground from which the armed terrorist groups only can develop. We highlight the role of the omnipresent hatred of America and the West which we term “Occidentalism”, but also the intense competition between Islamist and secular, Marxist terror groups which still exist in the Middle East and the entire Muslim world, and the Sunni/Shia competition as well as regional quests for hegemony. With Bassam Tibi we also analyze the close connection between the Islamist sharia ideology and the overall aspects of Islamism. Based on PEW data, we show that the two main drivers of Muslim opposition against suicide bombing are the rejection of honor killing and the death penalty against Muslims who chose to leave the Muslim community altogether. Our promax factor analyses confirm the relevance of this approach.

Propensity for Risk Taking Across the Life Span and Around the Globe

Past empirical work suggests that aging is associated with decreases in risk taking. But are such effects universal? Life-history theory suggests that the link between age and risk taking is a function of specific reproductive strategies that can be more or less risky depending on the ecology. We assessed variation in the age-risk curve using World Values Survey data from 77 countries (N = 147,118). The results suggest that propensity for risk taking tends to decline across the life span in the vast majority of countries. In addition, there is systematic variation among countries: Countries in which hardship (e.g., high infant mortality) is higher are characterized by higher levels of risk taking and flatter age-risk curves. These findings suggest that hardship may function as a cue to guide life-history strategies. Age-risk relations thus cannot be understood without reference to the demands and affordances of the environment.

Islamism and gender relations in the Muslim world as reflected in recent World Values Survey data

Ever since Goldin (1995) proposed the idea that there is a U-shaped female labor force participation rate function in economic development, empirical research is stunned by the question why the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are characterized by such low rates of female labor force participation. This gap in labor economics research is all the more perplexing since gender equality, particularly in education and employment, significantly contributes to economic growth. The research strategy of this paper is within a relatively new tradition in labor market research, initiated by Besamusca et al. (2015), which does not exclude the “religious factor” and what the authors call “gender ideology”. Our analysis of the “gender ideology” of Islamism and gender values is based on an empirical analysis of World Values Survey data. In recent economic theory, Carvalho (2013) maintained that Muslim veiling is a strategy for integration, enabling women to take up outside economic opportunities while preserving their reputation within the community. The empirical data clearly support a pessimistic view. We show that Muslim Feminism, which according to our analysis implies the rejection of Islamism and the veil, and the democracy movement in the Muslim world, are closely interrelated. Thus, it is imperative that Western Feminism develops solidarity with Muslim Feminism, and that labor economics stop excluding the religious factor from the analytical frameworks explaining low female labor force participation rates.

Islamism and Gender Relations in the Muslim World as Reflected in Recent World Values Survey Data

Ever since Goldin (1995) proposed idea that there is a U-shaped female labor force participation rate function in economic development, empirical research is stunned by question why countries of Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are characterized by such low rates of female labor force participation. This gap in labor economics research is all more perplexing since equality, particularly in education and employment, significantly contributes to economic growth. The research strategy of present paper is within a relatively new tradition in labor market research, initiated by recent article by Besamusca, Tijdens, Keune and Steinmetz (2015), which does not exclude anymore factor and what these authors call gender ideology. Our analysis of gender ideology of Islamism and values is based on an empirical analysis of World Values Survey data. In recent economic theory, Carvalho (2013) maintained that Muslim veiling is a strategy for integration, enabling women to take up outside economic opportunities while preserving their reputation within community. The empirical data clearly support a pessimistic view. We show that Muslim Feminism, which implies according to our data analysis rejection of twin brothers - Islamism and veil - and democracy movement in Muslim world are closely interrelated. Thus, it is imperative that Western Feminism develops solidarity with Muslim Feminism, and that labor economics does not exclude anymore the religious factor from analytical frameworks explaining low female labor force participation rates.

Demanding the Divine? Explaining Cross-National Support for Clerical Control of Politics

What explains cross-national variation in support for religious politics? More precisely, why do even observant believers show uneven demand for clerical control of politics? In contrast to theoretical alternatives, I argue that demand for clerical control of politics is a sign of relative weakness tied to low popular religious participation, which alters the risks and benefits of clerical political involvement. Two social mechanisms explain this relationship in contexts of active religious participation: strong networks between religious and state elites, and high levels of political diversity within religious communities. World Values Survey data provide statistical evidence that (a) support for clerical involvement in politics among regular participators is highest and (b) gaps between high and low religious participation citizens are largest where aggregate participation is lowest. Qualitative evidence regarding the theory’s mechanisms draws on field interviews in the Philippines during recent church–state tension.

The Role of Social Ties in Explaining Heterogeneity in the Association Between Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being

Whether economic growth improves subjective well-being has been under debate. Studies that find such an association also document heterogeneity between countries in the magnitude of the relationship. We test a theoretical model in which economic growth enhances subjective well-being only when a large share of the population derives their subjective well-being from relational goods with positive externalities instead of positional goods with negative externalities. The choice between relational and positional goods is determined by individuals’ relational abilities and expectations which we operationalize as attachment security. We specifically test whether economic growth improves subjective well-being more in those countries where the average attachment security is higher. We find support for the hypothesis in the Eurobarometer data but less support in the World Values Survey data.

Perceived Social Mobility and Political Trust in China

Existing studies have traced China’s high political trust to three sources: traditional culture, the state’s success in fostering economic growth, and ideological propaganda. We identify a fourth source: perceived social mobility. We argue that when people perceive a reasonable chance for upward mobility based on personal initiatives and efforts, the status quo becomes more justifiable because individuals are responsible for their own successes and failures. Perceived social mobility thus instills a sense of optimism and fairness and exonerates the regime from many blames, thereby enhancing political trust. Regression analysis of the China portion of the 2007 World Values Survey data shows that respondents who saw themselves as having choices and control in life were indeed more likely to trust the ruling communist party. The respondents’ overall level of perceived social mobility is also high, which is consistent with the massive shake-up of the preexisting social order in China’s reform era.

A comparative study of work ethic among Muslims and Protestants: Multilevel evidence

This article deals with the recently revealed paradox that contemporary Muslims score higher on Protestant work ethic than contemporary Protestants. The author tests whether this phenomenon is supported by World Values Survey (WVS) data. According to Inglehart’s theory of post-materialist shift, work ethic should be stronger in the developing societies where there is a lack of existential security. The author also tests whether the effects of the Protestant work ethic extend beyond the religious population of Protestant countries. The multilevel models built on 25,437 respondents in 55 countries show no significant difference in work ethic between Muslims and Protestants. Living in a historically Protestant society does not increase work ethic, but being religious in a Protestant society does. As countries develop, work ethic is likely to decrease. This poses further questions about the universal features of religious ethics and the non-religious factors explaining the economic progress associated with the Protestant work ethic.

Does a Nation's Religious Composition Affect Generalized Trust? The Role of Religious Heterogeneity and the Percent Religious

Is religion more of an integrative or a divisive force in contemporary societies? We use multilevel analyses of World Values Survey data from 77,409 individuals in 69 countries to examine how both the percent of the population that is religious and the religious heterogeneity of a country are related to generalized social trust, the willingness of individuals to trust “most people.” When we first examine the main effects of the percent religious and religious heterogeneity we find no evidence that either variable is related to trust in the ways predicted by major theories. However, the combination of these two variables has a huge negative relationship with trust. Countries that are both highly religious and religiously heterogeneous (diverse) have, on average, levels of trust that are only half the average levels of countries with other combinations of these two variables. The results have important implications for understanding the role of religion in modern societies.

Beyond enforcement: what drives tax morale in Ghana?

Purpose– This paper aims to investigate the determinants of the motivation to pay tax in Ghana. Traditionally, raising tax morale to ensure compliance is often tied to the level of prevailing enforcement. But beyond enforcement, why do citizens pay tax?Design/methodology/approach– This paper relied on the sixth wave of the World Values Survey data in determining the drivers of tax morale. It used the probit model with different specifications to determine robustness of the results.Findings– The findings remain robust to model specification and show a non-linear relationship between age and tax morale. The level of education, marital status, patriotism, sector of employment, satisfaction with democracy and one’s “fear of God” do not matter in tax morale. The economic class of a personper seis also far from being a significant driver and that people are intrinsically motivated to pay tax once they are satisfied with their financial situation, have trust in the government as well as confidence in the parliament.Originality/value– In addition to being a pioneering micro-econometric work on the determinants of tax morale in Ghana, the main contribution of the study lies in its investigation of a non-linear relationship between age and tax morale in Ghana.

Indigenous Belief in a Just World: New Zealand MMori and Other Ethnicities Compared

Survey evidence has revealed large differences in beliefs held by different cultures and ethnicities which may affect their economic prosperity. We study how the beliefs of New Zealand’s indigenous Māori about the causes of wealth or poverty and the extent to which people are responsible for their own fate differ from non-Māori using World Values Survey data from 1995 to 2011. Māori are more likely to believe that (1) the poor have been unfairly treated and are not lazy; (2) a better life is due to luck and not hard work; (3) the Government is doing too little for those in need; and (4) business should not be run solely by the owners, compared to non-Māori. We control for income, education and employment status, inter alia. The paper also compares differences between Māori and non-Māori within NZ to those between (non-indigenous) blacks and non-blacks within the US, as a benchmark. Stark results hold with respect to non-economic beliefs: whereas Māori are 8.6% more likely to believe that the environment should be given priority over economic growth compared to non-Māori, blacks are 20.5% less likely to hold this view compared to other Americans. Hence the evidence suggests that being indigenous plays a role in belief formation.

Hofstede, Inglehart and Beyond. New Directions in Empirical Global Value Research

Hofstede, Inglehart and Beyond. New Directions in Empirical Global Value Research

Clarifying and Expanding the Use of Confirmatory Factor Analysis in Journalism and Mass Communication Research

Journalism and mass communication research is underutilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) for the purposes of specifying, estimating, and evaluating measurement models. The analytical exercises undertaken for this essay reveal SEM-based confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to be a multifaceted tool that can aid researchers in generating greater understanding of the measurement elements of their research endeavors. Secondary analyses of 2014 World Values Survey ( N = 9,901) data emphasize the following: testing competing models, model identification, proper evaluation of covaried error terms, absolute and incremental model fit statistics, the chi-square distributed test statistic, model equivalency, multiple-group models, and assessing equality constraints.

Public confidence in the judiciary: the interaction between political awareness and level of democracy

Apart from the studies that focus on public attitudes toward higher courts in advanced democracies, we know little about the factors that can explain public confidence in the judiciary in a comparative setting. In this regard, the goal of this study is to explain whether, and to what extent, the country's level of democracy moderates the impact of political awareness on public confidence in the judiciary. This study uses hierarchical linear models to analyse the interaction between individual and country level factors by using the World Values Survey (2005–2009) data for 49 countries and various other data sources. Our empirical results show that in advanced democracies political awareness variables like education and political participation have a positive impact on public confidence in the judiciary, whereas in countries with weak levels of democracy higher political awareness leads to increased cynicism about the judiciary. These results suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to explain confidence in the judiciary is not possible when we are dealing with a wide range of societies that vary in terms of many characteristics, both institutional and cultural.

Cultural Gravity Effects among Migrants: A Comparative Analysis of the EU15

abstract This article introduces cultural gravity as a concept that serves to better disentangle the direction and magnitude of the effects from migration, which is controversial in recent literature. The aim is to test for cultural gravity effects on both the geographic concentration and human capital productivity of immigrants in the EU15 countries. Operationally, we proceed to construct an empirical cultural gravity measure and test it with the use of a composite cross-sectional database, comprising, inter alia, the World Value Survey and Eurostat Census data. After an initial exploration of relevant cultural data by means of multivariate statistical analysis, we present an extended formulation of a gravity model approached through logistic regression methods and a three-stage least-squares estimation. Our results clearly demonstrate the existence of a cultural gravity effect among immigrants. Finally, an interesting finding is that cultural gravity also plays a significant role in the context of the Culture-Based Development (CBD) growth model.

Internet use and human values: Analyses of developing and developed countries

In this study, we use Schwartz’s value framework to explore the impact of values on internet use at an individual level. This approach differs from many of the previous studies that report on national level analyses. The gap in the literature arising from the absence of Schwartz’s value types in information and communication technologies (ICT) studies calls for investigation of the impact of individual values on ICT use at the individual level. For study 1, we use the set of developing and developed nations, based on World Values Survey data. For study 2, we use eight nations grouped into two economic/cultural clusters (developed and developing) based on the data from the European Social Survey. Study 1 findings indicate that 4 out of 8, 6 out of 8 and 7 out of 8 Schwartz-like human value types are significant for Internet use for developed, developing and all nations respectively, with robust effect sizes. The study 2 findings indicate that for developed nations, Schwartz value types such as conformity, tradition, security, and power are relevant in at least two or more out of the four nations. In the case of the developing nations, achievement, stimulation, self-direction, tradition and security are relevant in at least two or more out of four nations. Tradition and security are the two value types that are most relevant in both groups of nations. These results indicate that value types have different as well as similar impacts in developed and developing nations. Similarities and differences also exist within developed and developing nations. The results show that value types in general and Schwartz’s value types in particular, are useful in explaining Internet use. The implications of these findings are discussed and future studies suggested.

Social and Individual Sources of Self-identification as Global Citizens

As an important type of cosmopolitan orientation, global self-identification refers to a higher level of self-identification with the world than with a particular nation-state. It has implications for the fate of nation-states and the prospect of global governance. This article examines what factors promote the adoption of global self-identification, using the recent wave of the World Values Survey data (2005–2008). I conceptualize the adoption of global self-identification as a two-level interactive process. While macro-level national characteristics do not directly impact global self-identification, they constitute the broader institutional context that conditions the effects of micro-level sociodemographic attributes. Specifically, existing theories often attribute the adoption of global self-identification to education and generational shifts. I argue that the cosmopolitanism-promoting effect of education and young age is not uniform across all countries but is more salient in affluent countries that are more involved in globalization. This emphasis on the cross-level interplay reveals both (1) the importance of country-level factors as the context under which individual-level factors operate and (2) the importance of individual-level factors as the conduit through which country-level influences penetrate down to individuals.

Globalization, the Environment and the Future 'Greening' of Arab Politics

The pressures of globalization, rising ecological footprint and shrinking biocapacity and concomitant global value change will contribute towards an increase of the importance of environmental issues in the Arab world in the coming years. Without question, already the time series data from available indices – like the KOF-Index of Globalization (2015) and Ecological Footprint Network data on ecological footprint and biocapicity - all point in the direction that in objective terms the Arab World will be confronted by a synchronous increase of these phenomena in the coming years. In addition, the newly available opinion data from the recently released World Values Survey (6) for twelve members of the Arab League (Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Tunisia, and Yemen), containing almost 70% of the population of the countries of the Arab League show to us that membership rate environmental organizations, participation in environmental demonstrations and giving priority to protecting the environment over economic growth are already a factor in those countries. Their weight will increase in the years to come, given the general and very robust underlying tendencies. Our article analyzes the empirical relationship between rising globalization and ecological performance by establishing the global long-term, structural macro-quantitative determinants of environmental performance in the world system with cross-national data. In multiple standard OLS regression models, we test the effects of 26 standard predictor variables, including the ‘four freedoms’ of goods, capital, labor and services, whose weight will all increase in the Arab world in the coming years, on the following indicators of sustainable development - avoiding net trade of ecological footprint gha per person - Carbon emissions per million US dollars GDP - CO2 per capita - Yale/Columbia Environmental Performance Index (EPI) - Global footprint per capita - Happy Life Years - Happy Planet Index - ln (number of people per mill inhabitants 1980-2000 killed by natural disasters per year+1) Our research shows that the apprehensions of quantitative research, critical of neo-liberal globalization are fully vindicated by the significant negative environmental effects of the foreign savings rate. High foreign savings are indeed a driver of global footprint, and are a blockade against a satisfactory Happy Planet Index performance. The new international division of labor is one of the prime drivers of high CO2 per capita emissions. The penetration of economies by foreign direct investments by transnational corporations, which is the master variable of most quantitative dependency theories (MNC penetration), blocks environmental performance (EPI-Index) and several other socially important processes. Worker remittances have a significant positive effect on the Happy Planet Index, and Happy Life Years. In attempting to draw some cautious predictions for the Arab World, the article then evaluates the performance of the Arab countries in this context with our cross-national data and with our analysis of World Values Survey (6) data for the region. While the documented data for the region from the Yale/Columbia EPI Index, which is the best single-shot available global environmental quality indicator today, and the Ecological Footprint Network time series data about rising ecological footprint and shrinking biocapacity in the Arab countries clearly indicate the sharply mounting and pressing environmental policy priorities in the region, the “greening” of Arab civil societies towards a higher degree of environmental consciousness and activism already is also becoming a considerable factor. The overall publics in Qatar and Libya are in the lead, while in the other Arab countries, environmental policy issues will gain considerably in importance in the public mindset as well. Decision makers would be well advised to channel already now these future environmental debates and movements to be expected in a way compatible with the overall well-being, prosperity, democratization and stability of the region.