Authoritarian Rallying as Reputational Cascade? Evidence from Putin’s Popularity Surge after Crimea

Identification Strategy

When international conflict causes an authoritarian leader’s popularity to soar, extant theories lead us to treat such “rallying” as sincere preference change, the product of surging patriotism or cowed media. This study advances a theory of less-than-fully sincere rallying more appropriate for nondemocratic settings, characterizing it as at least partly reflecting cascading dissembling driven by social desirability concerns. The identification strategy combines a rare nationally representative rally-spanning panel survey with a list experiment and econometric analysis. This establishes that three quarters of those who rallied to Putin after Russia annexed Crimea were engaging in at least some form of dissembling and that this rallying developed as a rapid cascade, with social media joining television in fueling perceptions this was socially desirable.

Do Survey Estimates of the Public’s Compliance with COVID-19 Regulations Suffer from Social Desirability Bias?

Journal of Behavioral Public Administration ◽

10.30636/jbpa.32.164 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Martin Larsen ◽

Jacob Nyrup ◽

Michael Bang Petersen

Keyword(s):

Social Desirability ◽

Self Report ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Individual Level ◽

Public Health Crisis ◽

Compliant Behavior ◽

List Experiment ◽

Survey Estimates

The COVID-19 pandemic has led governments to instate a large number of restrictions on and recommendations for citizens’ behavior. One widely used tool for measuring compliance with these strictures are nationally representative surveys that ask citizens to self-report their behavior. But if respondents avoid disclosing socially undesirable behaviors, such as not complying with government strictures in a public health crisis, estimates of compliance will be biased upwards. To assess the magnitude of this problem, this study compares measures of compliance from direct questions to those estimated from list-experiments - a response technique that allows respondents to report illicit behaviors without individual-level detection. Implementing the list-experiment in two separate surveys of Danish citizens (n>5,000), we find no evidence that citizens under-report non-compliant behavior. We therefore conclude that survey estimates of compliance with COVID-19 regulations do not suffer from social desirability bias.

A Tale of Two Countries: The Effectiveness of List Experiments to Measure Drug Consumption in Opposite Contexts

International Journal of Public Opinion Research ◽

10.1093/ijpor/edaa031 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Miguel García-Sánchez ◽

Rosario Queirolo

Keyword(s):

Drug Use ◽

Social Desirability ◽

Marijuana Use ◽

Social Contexts ◽

Indirect Measures ◽

List Experiment ◽

Sensitive Issues ◽

Representative Samples

Abstract The utility of list experiments in overcoming social desirability bias in surveys may be conditioned on social contexts. Sensitive issues in some countries may be less delicate in others, as with the case of drug use. We test this argument using a list experiment to measure marijuana use in two countries that differ in terms of social progressiveness: Colombia and Uruguay. Using nationally representative samples, we find no differences between the direct and indirect measures of marijuana use in liberal Uruguay, whereas in Colombia, the list experiment failed to produce an estimate of marijuana use. Therefore, social contexts affect the capacity of list experiments to elicit valid estimates.

Did Shy Trump Supporters Bias the 2016 Polls? Evidence from a Nationally-representative List Experiment

Statistics Politics and Policy ◽

10.1515/spp-2016-0005 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Alexander Coppock

Keyword(s):

Social Desirability ◽

Presidential Election ◽

Representative Survey ◽

Direct Question ◽

Vote Preference ◽

List Experiment ◽

Nationally Representative

AbstractExplanations for the failure to predict Donald Trump’s win in the 2016 Presidential election sometimes include the “Shy Trump Supporter” hypothesis, according to which some Trump supporters succumb to social desirability bias and hide their vote preference from pollsters. I evaluate this hypothesis by comparing direct question and list experimental estimates of Trump support in a nationally representative survey of 5290 American adults fielded from September 2 to September 13, 2016. Of these, 32.5% report supporting Trump’s candidacy. A list experiment conducted on the same respondents yields an estimate 29.6%, suggesting that Trump’s poll numbers were not artificially deflated by social desirability bias as the list experiment estimate is actually lower than direct question estimate. I further investigate differences across measurement modes for relevant demographic and political subgroups and find no evidence in support of the “Shy Trump Supporter” hypothesis.

Do Survey Estimates of the Public’s Compliance with COVID-19 Regulations Suffer from Social Desirability Bias?

10.31234/osf.io/cy4hk ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Martin Vinæs Larsen ◽

Michael Bang Petersen ◽

Jacob Nyrup

Keyword(s):

Social Desirability ◽

Self Report ◽

Health Crisis ◽

Individual Level ◽

Public Health Crisis ◽

Compliant Behavior ◽

List Experiment ◽

Survey Estimates

The COVID-19 pandemic has led governments to instate a large number of restrictions on and recommendations for citizens’ behavior. One of our best tools for measuring compliance with these strictures are nationally representative surveys that ask citizens to self-report their behavior. But if respondents’ avoid disclosing socially undesirable behaviors, such as not complying with government strictures in a public health crisis, estimates of compliance will be biased upwards. To assess the magnitude of this problem, this study compares measures of compliance from direct questions to those estimated from list-experiments - a response technique that allows respondents to report illicit behaviors without individual-level detection. Implementing the list-experiment in two separate surveys of Danish citizens (n>5,000), we find no evidence that citizens under-report non-compliant behavior. We therefore conclude that survey estimates of compliance with COVID-19 regulations do not suffer from social desirability bias

Tax compliance and social desirability bias of taxpayers: experimental evidence from Indonesia

Journal of Public Policy ◽

10.1017/s0143814x21000040 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

Endra Iraman ◽

Yoshikuni Ono ◽

Makoto Kakinaka

Keyword(s):

Experimental Evidence ◽

Social Desirability ◽

Tax Evasion ◽

Tax Compliance ◽

Computer Assisted ◽

Lower Income ◽

Tax Returns ◽

List Experiment ◽

Experiment Technique

Abstract Identifying taxpayers who engage in noncompliant behaviour is crucial for tax authorities to determine appropriate taxation schemes. However, because taxpayers have an incentive to conceal their true income, it is difficult for tax authorities to uncover such behaviour (social desirability bias). Our study mitigates the bias in responses to sensitive questions by employing the list experiment technique, which allows us to identify the characteristics of taxpayers who engage in tax evasion. Using a dataset obtained from a tax office in Jakarta, Indonesia, we conducted a computer-assisted telephone interviewing survey in 2019. Our results revealed that 13% of the taxpayers, old, male, corporate employees, and members of a certain ethnic group had reported lower income than their true income on their tax returns. These findings suggest that our research design can be a useful tool for understanding tax evasion and for developing effective taxation schemes that promote tax compliance.

Are There Racial Disparities in Psychotropic Drug Use and Expenditures in a Nationally Representative Sample of Men in the United States? Evidence From the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey

American Journal of Men s Health ◽

10.1177/1557988313496564 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 82-90 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Geraldine Pierre ◽

Roland J. Thorpe ◽

Gniesha Y. Dinwiddie ◽

Darrell J. Gaskin

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Drug Use ◽

Racial Disparities ◽

Psychotropic Drug ◽

Medical Expenditure Panel Survey ◽

The United States ◽

Medical Expenditure ◽

Panel Survey ◽

Psychotropic Drug Use ◽

Nationally Representative

This article sought to determine whether racial disparities exist in psychotropic drug use and expenditures in a nationally representative sample of men in the United States. Data were extracted from the 2000-2009 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a longitudinal survey that covers the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population. Full-Year Consolidated, Medical Conditions, and Prescribed Medicines data files were merged across 10 years of data. The sample of interest was limited to adult males aged 18 to 64 years, who reported their race as White, Black, Hispanic, or Asian. This study employed a pooled cross-sectional design and a two-part probit generalized linear model for analyses. Minority men reported a lower probability of psychotropic drug use (Black = −4.3%, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [−5.5, −3.0]; Hispanic = −3.8%, 95% CI = [−5.1, −2.6]; Asian = −4.5%, 95% CI = [−6.2, −2.7]) compared with White men. After controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and health status variables, there were no statistically significant race differences in drug expenditures. Consistent with previous literature, racial and ethnic disparities in the use of psychotropic drugs present problems of access to mental health care and services.

Advancing children’s news media literacy: learning from the practices and experiences of young Australians

Media Culture & Society ◽

10.1177/0163443718813470 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 41 (5) ◽

pp. 689-707

Author(s):

Tanya Notley ◽

Michael Dezuanni

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Media Literacy ◽

News Media ◽

Social Impact ◽

Literacy Learning ◽

Literacy Education ◽

Fake News ◽

News Stories ◽

Media Literacy Education ◽

Nationally Representative

Social media use has redefined the production, experience and consumption of news media. These changes have made verifying and trusting news content more complicated and this has led to a number of recent flashpoints for claims and counter-claims of ‘fake news’ at critical moments during elections, natural disasters and acts of terrorism. Concerns regarding the actual and potential social impact of fake news led us to carry out the first nationally representative survey of young Australians’ news practices and experiences. Our analysis finds that while social media is one of young people’s preferred sources of news, they are not confident about spotting fake news online and many rarely or never check the source of news stories. Our findings raise important questions regarding the need for news media literacy education – both in schools and in the home. Therefore, we consider the historical development of news media literacy education and critique the relevance of dominant frameworks and pedagogies currently in use. We find that news media has become neglected in media literacy education in Australia over the past three decades, and we propose that current media literacy frameworks and pedagogies in use need to be rethought for the digital age.

To share is to receive: News as social currency for social media reciprocity

Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies ◽

10.1386/ajms_00008_1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

pp. 3-20

Author(s):

Edson C. Tandoc ◽

Alice Huang ◽

Andrew Duffy ◽

Rich Ling ◽

Nuri Kim

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Panel Survey ◽

Self Presentation ◽

Social Currency ◽

One Year ◽

To Receive ◽

News Sharing ◽

Social Media Network

Guided by the framework of reciprocity on social media, the current study investigated antecedents of news sharing. Using a two-wave panel survey involving 868 respondents who took two surveys about one year apart, this study examined the effect of frequency of receiving news on social media on subsequent news-sharing behaviour, while controlling for demographics, news-sharing motivations and trust in social media news. The study found that motivation for self-presentation and trust in news shared by one's social media network positively predicted news sharing on social media. Frequency of receiving news at Time 1 also predicted sharing news subsequently at Time 2. This points to news being valued as a form of social currency.

Development and validation of a parental social media mediation scale across child and parent samples

Internet Research ◽

10.1108/intr-02-2018-0061 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 677-694 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shirley Ho ◽

May O. Lwin ◽

Liang Chen ◽

Minyi Chen

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Media Use ◽

Parental Mediation ◽

Social Media Use ◽

Content Type ◽

Children And Parents ◽

Initial Scale ◽

Negative Impacts ◽

Development And Validation

Purpose Social media use carries both opportunities and risks for children and adolescents. In order to reduce the negative impacts of social media on youth, the authors focus our efforts on parental mediation of social media. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to enhance the conceptualization and operationalization of parental mediation of social media. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors conducted focus groups with both children and parents in Singapore to categorize parental mediation strategies for social media and develop an initial scale of these strategies. Then, a survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 1,424 child participants and 1,206 parent participants in Singapore to develop and test the scale. Findings The focus group results identified four conceptually distinct parental mediation strategies for social media, labeled as active mediation, restrictive mediation, authoritarian surveillance, and non-intrusive inspection, and were used to develop an initial scale of these strategies. Based on the data from survey questionnaires, the authors investigated both inter-item and item-total correlations and performed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), which developed and validated the scale of parental mediation of social media. Originality/value First, this research explained what parents do to manage children’s social media use and identified four conceptually distinct parental mediation strategies of social media, making a significant contribution to the parental mediation theory. Additionally, the research developed the first theory-derived, successively validated and reliable scale in parental mediation of social media.