Are the unemployed equally unhappy all around the world? The role of the social norms to work and welfare state provision in 28 OECD countries
This paper examines cross-national and temporal variations in the effect of personal unemployment on life satisfaction. To account for these variations we consider the social norm to work and national systems of unemployment benefits. Following the social psychological approach to social norms (Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990) we differentiate between descriptive, societal injunctive and personal injunctive norms. We use the national unemployment rates as a proxy of the descriptive norm to work. The societal injunctive norm and the personal injunctive norm to work are conceptualized as society's vs. personal attitudes towards working for a living versus living off public funds, respectively. The results of the multilevel regression analysis of the data from 28 OECD countries (European and World Values Survey, 1999-2009) suggest that the single country characteristic that could explain contextual variations in the unemployment effect is the societal injunctive norm to work: unemployment hurts less in societies with more tolerant attitudes towards being out of work. This effect holds even after controlling for the national level of unemployment benefits and the personal injunctive norm to work. We conclude that the negative effect of personal unemployment in societies with a strong societal injunctive norm to work is so much higher due to social pressure and disapproval and not to the perception that one does not live up to their own standards.
Year of publication: |
2011
|
---|---|
Authors: | Stavrova, Olga ; Schlösser, Thomas ; Fetchenhauer, Detlef |
Published in: |
Journal of Economic Psychology. - Elsevier, ISSN 0167-4870. - Vol. 32.2011, 1, p. 159-171
|
Publisher: |
Elsevier |
Keywords: | Descriptive norms Injunctive norms Unemployment Survey Life satisfaction Conformity Welfare state |
Saved in:
Online Resource
Saved in favorites
Similar items by person
-
Stavrova, Olga, (2011)
-
Does betrayal aversion really guide trust decisions towards strangers?
Fetchenhauer, Detlef, (2020)
-
The Effect of Democratically Determined (In)equality on Cooperative Behavior
Schlösser, Thomas, (2020)
- More ...