scholarly journals Determinants of institutional trust: the role of cultural context

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Anneli Kaasa ◽  
Luca Andriani
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Institutional Trust ◽  
Multilevel Regression ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Large Power ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Level Data

Abstract We examine the cultural context for individual's trust in public institutions. To shed some light on possible cultural explanations from a more comparative perspective and cover a wider set of cultural aspects, we use indicators of cultural dimensions by Kaasa et al. (2014) based on Hofstede's (1980) approach. Multilevel regression analysis is conducted with individual-level data from two waves of the European Social Survey (2008, 2010) and regional-level data from multiple sources. Confirmatory factor analysis is used to construct the indicators of social and institutional trust and corruption. Our results suggest that individuals tend to trust institutions less in regions with large power distance. Hence, an important key for governments being more successful in achieving their aims seems to be related to improving the sense of participation and civic responsibility.

scholarly journals Regional Cultural Context as a Determinant of Entrepreneurial Behaviour: The Case of Germany

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-118
Author(s):  
Kadri Arrak ◽  
Anneli Kaasa ◽  
Urmas Varblane
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Important Determinant ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Entrepreneurial Behaviour ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Original Approach

This exploratory article aims to take first steps towards understanding whether a regional cultural background has, among other determinants, an influence on a person’s entrepreneurial behaviour, relying on the example of Germany. A multilevel approach is applied combining the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor individual-level data about entrepreneurship with up-to-date cultural dimensions indicators based on Hofstede’s original approach at the regional (NUTS 1) level. The results indicate that regional cultural context is an important determinant of entrepreneurial behaviour. At that, different cultural dimensions have different impacts, and the impact also differs across different stages of entrepreneurship. A lower level of uncertainty avoidance in a region could have a positive impact on early-stage entrepreneurship, whereas the established business ownership seems to be encouraged by a lower level of power distance.

scholarly journals A threat from within? Perceptions of immigration in an enlarging European Union

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 343-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie Jeannet
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Level Data ◽  
European Immigration ◽  
East West

Scholars have taken a considerable interest in how global immigration to Europe generates public concern, but we still know little about the role that migration from within the European region has in fueling apprehensions. To better understand this, I examine how public attitudes towards immigration have responded to migration following the European Union’s most extensive enlargement along its eastern border in 2004. Using recent advances in multilevel modeling, this article analyzes the longitudinal, cross-sectional relationship between east–west internal European migration on public attitudes towards the economic and cultural aspects of immigration in Western Europe using individual-level data from the European Social Survey (2004–2014). The results demonstrate that growing populations of Central and Eastern European foreigners have contributed to Western Europeans’ perception of immigration as an economic threat, even when taking into account simultaneous immigration from outside Europe. Moreover, the relationship between east–west immigration and an individual’s perception of immigration as a threat is conditional upon their socio-economic status. These findings underscore how within-European immigration in Western Europe has become consequential to the public’s attitudes about immigration more generally.

scholarly journals When economic and cultural interests align: the anti-immigration voter coalitions driving far right party success in Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne Halikiopoulou ◽  
Tim Vlandas
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Strong Positive Correlation ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Positive Correlation ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Party Support ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThis article contests the view that the strong positive correlation between anti-immigration attitudes and far right party success necessarily constitutes evidence in support of the cultural grievance thesis. We argue that the success of far right parties depends on their ability to mobilize a coalition of interests between their core supporters, that is voters with cultural grievances over immigration and the often larger group of voters with economic grievances over immigration. Using individual level data from eight rounds of the European Social Survey, our empirical analysis shows that while cultural concerns over immigration are a stronger predictor of far right party support, those who are concerned with the impact of immigration on the economy are important to the far right in numerical terms. Taken together, our findings suggest that economic grievances over immigration remain pivotal within the context of the transnational cleavage.

scholarly journals Commitment to employment and organisation: Finland in a European comparison

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 55-66
Author(s):  
Teemu Turunen
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Multiple Regression Analysis ◽  
Multiple Regression ◽  
Job Insecurity ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Organisational Commitment ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Employment Commitment

Employment and organisational commitment are widely endorsed as goals for labour market policy and organisations. However, there are few comparative studies that examine how, in addition to individual characteristics, dimensions of national culture affect employment and organisational commitment. This article compares employment and organisational commitment among employees in Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Spain and Sweden. The main focus is on whether these commitments differ in Finland from those in four other European countries. Finland has seldom been included in this kind of comparative study. Individual-level data come from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), Work Orientation Module III, collected in 2005–2006. Employment commitment was the highest in Sweden, while organisational commitment was the highest among Germans. Finnish employees did not display particularly high levels of employment commitment: Finns were next to last in this category. Organisational commitment in Finland was on the same level as Spain and Sweden. In all five countries low subjective job insecurity among employees increased organisational commitment. Schwartz’s (2007) cultural dimensions accounted for a significant share of the variance in employment commitment. The data were analysed mainly by using standard multiple regression analysis and hierarchical multiple regression analysis.

scholarly journals THE PROBLEM OF INSTITUTIONAL TRUST IN UKRAINE AND EUROPE: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 54-66
Author(s):  
Mykola Izha ◽  
Olena Knyazeva ◽  
Tetyana Pakhomova
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Institutional Trust ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Country Level

The article presents the results of studying the formation of institutional trust, which will help to clarify and, at the same time, raise questions regarding the determination of the level of trust in state and political institutions in Ukraine and in modern European countries. In the context of the study, the tasks were considered to identify the factors that influence the formation of citizens’ trust in political institutions, namely: the effectiveness of the activities of political institutions; personal experience of interaction of citizens with representatives of authorities; the level of trust in the state as a whole, which can be transferred to individual state institutions. Analyzing the data from the Rounds (waves) 1-9 of the European Social Survey (ESS) in 2002-2018, the level of confidence in Ukraine’s political and public institutions and in the other European countries is compared. The analysis makes it possible to determine the factors that are present at the supra-individual level (at the country level) and which can influence the public policy of the state. The results of the study can be used to suggest possible measures to increase public confidence in major public institutions.

scholarly journals Secularism and Fertility Worldwide

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312110313
Author(s):  
Landon Schnabel
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Fertility Behavior ◽  
World Population ◽  
Fertility Rates ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
The World

This study proposes and explores a new fertility determinant: societal secularism. Using country-level data from multiple sources ( n = 181) and multilevel data from 58 countries in the World Values Survey ( n = 83,301), the author documents a strong negative relationship between societal secularism and both country-level fertility rates and individual-level fertility behavior. Secularism, even in small amounts, is associated with population stagnation or even decline absent substantial immigration, whereas highly religious countries have higher fertility rates that promote population growth. This country-level pattern is driven by more than aggregate lower fertility of secular individuals. In fact, societal secularism is a better predictor of highly religious individuals’ fertility behavior than that of secular individuals, and this pattern is largely a function of cultural values related to gender, reproduction, and autonomy in secular societies. Beyond their importance for the religious composition of the world population, the patterns presented in this study are relevant to key fertility theories and could help account for below-replacement fertility.

scholarly journals Why vote when you cannot choose? EU intervention and political participation in times of constraint

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 406-428
Author(s):  
Stuart J Turnbull-Dugarte
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Support ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Political Behaviour ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Policy Alternatives ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
The Impact

This article analyses how economic intervention affects individuals’ political behaviour by assessing the impact of intervention on aggregate and individual turnout. The intervention of the European Union in a selection of member states is viewed as having negative consequences for democratic choice, reducing the ability of voters to select between distinct policy alternatives, resulting in the absence of the primary benefit of voting: choice. It is argued that when voters are faced with electoral choices without the ability to shape policy alternatives, they are less likely to vote. Moreover, the negative effect of intervention is found to be conditioned by both individuals’ level of education and ideological identification. Voters on the centre and the left who feel abandoned by left-leaning parties, who have prioritised being responsible to their European paymasters, are significantly more likely to abstain when exposed to intervention. Empirical support for the argument is found via the analysis of aggregate turnout as well as individual level data from the European Social Survey from across fifteen Western European states.

scholarly journals The far-right, immigrants, and the prospects of democracy satisfaction in Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 507-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aida Just
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Foreign Born ◽  
Far Right ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Citizenship Status ◽  
First Generation Immigrants ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Level Data

This paper examines the consequences of the far-right in shaping foreign-born immigrants’ satisfaction with the way democracy works in their host country. It posits that while electorally successful far-right parties undermine democracy satisfaction, the magnitude of this effect is not uniform across all first-generation immigrants. Instead, it depends on newcomers’ citizenship status in their adopted homeland. The analyses using individual-level data collected as part of the five-round European Social Survey (ESS) 2002–2012 in 16 West European democracies reveal that the electoral strength of far-right parties in a form of vote and seat shares won in national elections is indeed powerfully linked to democracy satisfaction among foreign-born individuals. However, this relationship is limited to foreign-born non-citizens, as we have no evidence that far-right parties influence democracy attitudes among foreign-born individuals who have acquired citizenship in their adopted homeland.

scholarly journals Institutional trust, political participation, and corruption: A European comparative perspective

Sociologija ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-354
Author(s):  
Jovana Zafirovic ◽  
Branka Matijevic ◽  
Bozidar Filipovic
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Institutional Trust ◽  
Multilevel Regression ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross National

Despite the theoretical and political importance of the relationship between institutional trust and different forms of political participation in Europe, theoretical and empirical focus on post-industrial economies leave the literature wanting of explanations of cross-national variation in political participation. In this article, we test whether levels of corruption influence the relationship between institutional trust and participation. We rely on the 9th wave of the European Social Survey results for an in-depth analysis of the relationship between institutional trust, political participation, and perceived corruption in 27 countries. The multilevel regression analysis results show that the effect of institutional trust on institutionalised political participation (including voting) is moderated by corruption. However, corruption does not moderate the relationship between institutional trust and non-institutionalised forms of participation.

scholarly journals Models of Other-Regarding Preferences, Inequality, and Redistribution

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 441-460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Dimick ◽  
David Rueda ◽  
Daniel Stegmueller
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
European Data ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Western European ◽  
Other Regarding ◽  
Other Regarding Preferences

Despite the increasing popularity of comparative work on other-regarding preferences, the implications of different models of altruism are not always fully understood. This article analyzes different theoretical approaches to altruism and explores what empirical conclusions we should draw from them, paying particular attention to models of redistribution preferences where inequality explicitly triggers other-regarding motives for redistribution. While the main contribution of this article is to clarify the conclusions of these models, we also illustrate the importance of their distinct implications by analyzing Western European data to compare among them. We draw on individual-level data from the European Social Survey fielded between September 2002 and December 2013.

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