Egalitarian Values and Sexual Behavior—The Role of Country Level Values in Shaping Individual Level Behaviors in Africa, South America and Asia

Product boycotts represent an important form of sustainable consumption, as withholding purchasing can restrain firms from damaging the natural environment or breaking social rules. However, our understanding of consumer participation in these protests is limited. Most previous studies have focused on the psychological and economic determinants of product boycotting. Drawing on social capital literature, this study builds a framework that explains how individual- and contextual-level social capital affects consumer participation in boycotts of products. A multilevel logistic regression analysis of 29 country representative samples derived from the European Social Survey (N = 54221) shows that at the individual level product boycotting is associated with a person’s social ties, whereas at the country level, generalized trust and social networks positively affect consumer decisions to take part in these protests. These results suggest that to better understand differences among countries in consumer activism, it is necessary to consider the role of social capital as an important predictor of product boycotting.

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Public support for the right to euthanasia: Impact of traditional religiosity and autonomy values across 37 nations

International Journal of Comparative Sociology ◽

10.1177/0020715218787582 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 59 (4) ◽

pp. 301-318 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Maksim Rudnev ◽

Aleksandra Savelkaeva

Keyword(s):

Public Support ◽

Independent Effect ◽

World Values Survey ◽

Individual Level ◽

Country Level ◽

A Value ◽

The Individual ◽

The Right ◽

Moral Attitudes

This article takes a postmodernization perspective on support for the right to euthanasia by treating it as an expression of a process of value change, as a preference for quality over quantity of life. Using the data from the fifth wave of the World Values Survey, this study attempts to answer the question of whether the mass support for the right to euthanasia is an expression of autonomy values rather than just a function of a low religiosity. Multilevel regressions demonstrate that both traditional religiosity and autonomy values have a high impact at the individual level, while at the country level only the effects of traditional religiosity are significant. Autonomy values have stronger association with attitudes to euthanasia in countries with higher levels of postmaterialism. Multilevel path analysis demonstrates that the effect of religiosity is partially and weakly mediated by the values of autonomy at both levels. Although religiosity was found to have a much stronger impact, the independent effect of autonomy values suggests that mass support for the right to euthanasia is a value-driven preference for quality over quantity of life. We conclude by suggesting that the fall in traditional religiosity might emphasize the role of values in moral attitudes regulation.

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The moderating role of IPR on the relationship between country-level R&D and individual-level entrepreneurial performance

The Journal of Technology Transfer ◽

10.1007/s10961-019-09731-2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 44 (5) ◽

pp. 1427-1450 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

André van Stel ◽

Serhiy Lyalkov ◽

Ana Millán ◽

José María Millán

Keyword(s):

Entrepreneurial Performance ◽

Individual Level ◽

Country Level ◽

The Relationship ◽

Moderating Role

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Alternative Legacies of Authoritarianism: Pro-dictator Bias in Ideology

10.33774/apsa-2021-jlth5 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sanghoon Kim-Leffingwell

Keyword(s):

Survey Data ◽

Political Ideology ◽

Right Wing ◽

Left Wing ◽

Individual Level ◽

The Past ◽

Country Level ◽

Level Data ◽

Party Strength

How does an authoritarian past shape voters’ left-right orientation? Recent studies investigate “anti-dictator bias” in political ideology, where citizens in a former right-wing (left-wing) dictatorship may display a leftist (rightist) bias in their ideological self-identification. In this paper, I provide evidence for a “pro-dictator bias” where citizens hold ideological positions corresponding to those of the dictator depending on their experiences during and after transition. In countries with negotiated transitions and stronger former ruling parties, these successors could continue mobilizing the popular base of the former dictatorship with inherited advantages from the past and by invoking nostalgia through consistent reference to previous authoritarian achievements. I test this hypothesis with variables measuring successor party strength and the type of regime transition by combining individual-level survey data and country-level data. The findings emphasize the role of post-transition features in shaping alternative legacies on voter attitudes in former authoritarian societies.

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Informal institutions and technology use by entrepreneurs

International Journal of Emerging Markets ◽

10.1108/ijoem-11-2012-0160 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 57-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Saurav Pathak ◽

Andre O. Laplume ◽

Emanuel Xavier-Oliveira

Keyword(s):

Emerging Economies ◽

Technology Use ◽

Shadow Economy ◽

Informal Institutions ◽

Unique Contribution ◽

Content Type ◽

Negatively Associated ◽

Individual Level ◽

Country Level

Purpose – Given the increasing relevance of emerging economies in the global economy and the neoclassical argument that technological progress is the main driver of economic growth, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the under-researched role of informal institutions on the likelihood that individuals will enter into technology entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Design/methodology/approach – Since the authors combined individual-level and country-level observations, data were analyzed employing hierarchical linear modeling methods and random-effect logistic regressions to estimate the influence of country-level factors on the likelihood of individuals’ entry into techno-entrepreneurship. The data set comprised 10,280 observations for 18 emerging countries during the 2002-2008 period. Findings – The selected informal institutions relate to techno-entrepreneurship as follows: the size of the shadow economy has a U-shaped relationship; ethnic diversity is positively associated; and ethnic polarization is negatively associated, though the latter is not significant. Research limitations/implications – The authors did not theorize on cross-level mechanisms through which these informal institutions could influence individual-level attitudes, nor did the authors assess the role of such institutions on general entrepreneurship. However, this paper provides a base for more fine-grained studies. Originality/value – The authors disseminate novel insights into the particularities of emerging economies since all informal institutions studied here have been negatively associated with the overall economic experiences of developing and least developed countries. In addition, the authors provide a unique contribution by identifying a potential U-shaped relationship between the size of the shadow economy and the likelihood of individuals engaging in techno-entrepreneurship.

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Lower education and living in countries with lower wealth are associated with higher disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis: results from the multinational COMORA study

Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases ◽

10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-206737 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 75 (3) ◽

pp. 540-546 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Polina Putrik ◽

Sofia Ramiro ◽

Andras P Keszei ◽

Ihsane Hmamouchi ◽

Maxime Dougados ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Rheumatoid Arthritis ◽

Disease Activity ◽

Female Gender ◽

Mediation Effect ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Individual Level ◽

Mediating Role ◽

Country Level ◽

The Relationship

ObjectivesTo investigate the relationship of socioeconomic status (SES) on an individual and country level with disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and explore the mediating role of uptake of costly biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) in this relationship.MethodsData from a cross-sectional multinational study (COMOrbidities in RA) were used. Contribution of individual socioeconomic factors and country of residence to disease activity score with 28-joint assessment (DAS28) was explored in regression models, adjusting for relevant clinical confounders. Next, country of residence was replaced by gross domestic product (GDP) (low vs high) to investigate the contribution of SES by comparing R2 (model fit). The mediating role of uptake of bDMARDs in the relationship between education or GDP and DAS28 was explored by testing indirect effects.ResultsIn total, 3920 patients with RA were included (mean age 56 (SD 13) years, 82% women, mean DAS28 3.7 (1.6)). After adjustment, women (vs men) and low-educated (vs university) patients had 0.35 higher DAS28. Adjusted country differences in DAS28, compared with the Netherlands (lowest DAS28), varied from +0.2 (France) to +2.4 (Egypt). Patients from low GDP countries had 0.98 higher DAS28. No interactions between individual-level and country-level variables were observed. A small mediation effect of uptake of bDMARDs in the relationship between education and DAS28 (7.7%) and between GDP and DAS28 (6.7%) was observed.ConclusionsFemale gender and lower individual or country SES were independently associated with DAS28, but did not reinforce each other. The association between lower individual SES (education) or lower country welfare (GDP) with higher DAS28 was partially mediated by uptake of bDMARDs.

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When Conspiracy Theories Make Sense: The Role of Social Inclusiveness

10.31234/osf.io/2umfe ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sinan Alper

Keyword(s):

Rule Of Law ◽

Scientific Literacy ◽

Press Freedom ◽

Performance Study ◽

Conspiracy Theories ◽

Individual Level ◽

Country Level ◽

Education Status ◽

Conspiracy Beliefs

In three studies, I found evidence that people living in less socially inclusive countries (operationalized as having weaker rule of law, and lack of equality and press freedom) have a greater tendency for conspiracy ideation. In Study 1 (21 countries, N = 22,238), participants in less inclusive countries were more likely to believe in conspiracies, even after adjusting for country-level differences in educational performance. Study 2 (24 countries, N = 4,743) and Study 3 (23 countries, N = 5,726) replicated this result by using individual-level education status and scientific literacy as covariates, respectively. The associations between inclusiveness and conspiracy beliefs was stronger for people with higher levels of educational attainment and scientific literacy. I argue that this is because real conspiracies are more likely to actually happen in less inclusive contexts; thus, it is more rational to have increased levels of suspicion of secret and hostile alliances in such countries.

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The Role of Cognitive Discrepancy Between Perception of National Character and Personality in the Functioning and Adaptation of 46 Countries: An Exploratory Study

Cross-Cultural Research ◽

10.1177/1069397116686732 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 51 (4) ◽

pp. 412-430 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Daniel David ◽

Silviu Andrei Matu ◽

Oana Alexandra David ◽

Antonio Terracciano

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Distortions ◽

Negative Impact ◽

National Income ◽

National Character ◽

Individual Level ◽

Country Level ◽

Discrepancy Measure ◽

Distorted Cognitions ◽

The Individual

The role of distorted cognitions in human functioning/adaptation is well-established at the individual level. We argue that the discrepancy between perceived national character and the actual national character (i.e., personality traits) is a form of distorted cognition at the group/country level and thus could have a negative impact on the functioning/adaptation of a given country. In this study, we computed this discrepancy score (the perceived national character minus the actual national character) and correlated it to indicators of functioning/adaptation in 46 countries. Results showed that the overestimation of national character (a higher score on the discrepancy measure) is associated with lower life satisfaction, lower autonomy, lower human development, and lower peacefulness at the country level. These results were maintained even after controlling for the effect of economic development, indexed as gross national income. Distorted cognitions related to national character shared by citizens are not only a scientific curiosity, but they might also have more practical implications for the country’s positioning on the global stage. These findings set the ground for a new topic of research investigating the role of such cognitive distortions.

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The Role of Actual Democracy in the Link between National Identity and Support for Democracy

Comparative Sociology ◽

10.1163/15691330-bja10042 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 20 (4) ◽

pp. 473-500

Author(s):

Daniel Gabrielsson

Keyword(s):

National Identity ◽

Multilevel Models ◽

Negative Relationship ◽

Individual Level ◽

Country Level ◽

Support For Democracy ◽

The Individual ◽

High Level ◽

National Membership

Abstract This article analyzes the interplay between national identity and democracy. Multilevel models were tested using European Value Survey (EVS 2017), which includes 30 countries in total. On the individual level, emphasis on non-voluntary features of national identity, where national membership depends on the accident of origin, relates to lower support for democracy. At the country level, the level of actual democracy was taken in to account (Varieties of Democracy 2017). In general, higher levels of actual democracy correlate with stronger support for the ideal democracy, yet, a high level of actual democracy amplifies the negative relationship between non-voluntary national identity and support for democracy.

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