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1 – 10 of over 10000Peter Schofield and Peter Reeves
This paper aims to explain voter perceptions and voting behaviour in the 2010 UK General Election on the basis of this theory, by evaluating the differential impact of government…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explain voter perceptions and voting behaviour in the 2010 UK General Election on the basis of this theory, by evaluating the differential impact of government performance on key political issues defined as hierarchical voter satisfaction factor types. The validity of the three-factor theory of satisfaction in explaining consumer decision-making for products and services is well-established.
Design/methodology/approach
British Election Survey (2010) data are used to test the relative influence of hierarchical voter satisfaction factor types in predicting the perceived overall performance of the former Labour government and actual voting behaviour. Sequential and multinomial logistic regression models are used in the perceived overall performance of the former Labour government and actual voting behaviour, respectively.
Findings
“Basic” factors explain more of the variance in perceived overall government performance and voting behaviour than “performance” factors. There are significant positive main and interaction effects on Conservative and Liberal Democrat party votes from Labour’s underperformance on the “basic” factors. The results have important implications for political marketing and voting behaviour research.
Originality/value
The study establishes the relevance of the three-factor theory of satisfaction within a political marketing context. It demonstrates that, controlling for party loyalty, perceived government performance on the hierarchical voter satisfaction factors explains voter perceptions and voting behaviour to a significant degree. In particular, it highlights the criticality for voting behaviour of both the direct and indirect impacts of “basic” factor underperformance.
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John Struthers and Alistair Young
In seeking to extend rational choice theory from“market” to “political” behaviour, economistshave encountered a paradox: namely, that the act of voting itselfappears to be…
Abstract
In seeking to extend rational choice theory from “market” to “political” behaviour, economists have encountered a paradox: namely, that the act of voting itself appears to be inconsistent with the assumption of rationality. This is true not only when self‐interest is assumed, but also when altruistic behaviour (at least in its non‐Kantian form) is allowed for. This article surveys the theoretical and empirical literature on the determinants of the decision to participate in voting, and concludes that this decision is responsive to changes in the expected benefits and costs of voting; even though the expected costs of voting must normally outweigh the expected benefits. Interpretations of this behaviour include the possibility that voters act rationally, but are misinformed about the likely effectiveness of their votes; alternatively, the electorate may include more Kantians than economists have generally been willing to admit.
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Dalia Abdel Rahman Farrag and Hamed Shamma
This study measures to what extent different factors including Islamic religious beliefs influenced Egyptian's voting behavior intentions in the last parliament elections, given…
Abstract
Purpose
This study measures to what extent different factors including Islamic religious beliefs influenced Egyptian's voting behavior intentions in the last parliament elections, given the moderating effect of the media and its role in shaping the existence of the Islamic political brand in Egypt. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative research was initially conducted to modify the Newman and Sheth model to fit the Egyptian culture. A final total of 401 Muslim citizens that participated in the last parliament elections were then surveyed via face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire.
Findings
Most factors related to voting for a specific candidate or party seemed to be important for voters' in their decision making, specifically personal events related to the candidate, candidate's image, current events surrounding the elections process, interest in issues and policies and religious beliefs that was added by the authors to the model. The media also had a high level of importance and influence over the relationship between some of the factors affecting voter's decision and voter's behavioral intentions. Overall, citizens demonstrated approach voting behavioral intentions towards the elections process and indicated that they would actively participate in the upcoming elections. Pearson correlations and further analysis were also run to investigate the nature of relationships between the factors understudy and voting behavioral intentions; most of which had significant relationships, as well as the significant role of the media. Some factors were excluded after running stepwise regression for testing the fitness of the model proposed.
Research limitations/implications
Study covering the capital city of Egypt; Cairo only.
Practical implications
It has become important for politicians and governments to understand what are the genuine needs of their societies and what are citizens looking for in political candidates and parties. Political marketing and particularly understanding voting behavior is a booming area that has become an important tool for building political brands as witnessed by this research and how it was used by Islamists to reach voter's and affect their decision making.
Originality/value
This research paper sheds the light on a very contemporary area related to political marketing which is political campaigning and factors affecting voters' intentions given the significant role of candidate's religious beliefs. Furthermore, focusing on the rise of Islamic political parties that are actively becoming important members of the political landscape in the Arab region after a long time of undercover practice and struggle with previous governments before the Arab spring events.
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Saeed Ahmad, Mudasir Mustafa, Ahsan Ullah, Muhammad Shoaib, Muhammad Mushtaq and Wasif Ali
This study aims to examine the associations between socioeconomic status, types of rigging (pre- polling-day and post-), politics and voting behavior, vote casting and perceptions…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the associations between socioeconomic status, types of rigging (pre- polling-day and post-), politics and voting behavior, vote casting and perceptions of rigging in Pakistan’s most recent elections, and attitudes toward electoral integrity.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from students at three different universities. In all, 748 units of analysis (488 male and 260 female) recorded their responses by means of a self-structured questionnaire. Linear regression was applied to measure the associations between variables, and the reliability and validity of the scales were tested.
Findings
A significant relationship was found between pre-poll rigging, post-poll rigging, politics and voting behavior, socioeconomic characteristics (i.e. age, education, father’s education, background or place of residence and monthly household incomes), the perception of rigging in the last elections and attitudes toward electoral integrity.
Practical implications
Pakistan’s history has been blemished by electoral malpractices during both de facto and de jure regimes. Attention has formerly been paid to either polling-day or post-election rigging. The relationship of electoral integrity with different factors explored in this study have usually been ignored or overlooked. The findings of this study would help policy-makers, youth experts and academicians to reorient their behaviors to strengthen political stability, the rule of law and the continuation of democracy via their participation in the system.
Originality/value
To the researchers’ best knowledge, there has not been a single peer-reviewed study of Pakistan which has explored the associations between the variables examined for this study. The main academic challenge the researchers faced was to find a standardized and contextualized scale or tool to explore how different types of vote-rigging affected attitudes toward electoral integrity. Thus, the structured scales for types of rigging and electoral integrity developed here would be useful for future studies in the field of electoral integrity in democratic countries.
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This study aimed to examine the relationships between different uses of Internet modes and political participation, focusing on political information behaviors, including…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to examine the relationships between different uses of Internet modes and political participation, focusing on political information behaviors, including political information seeking and forwarding.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used secondary data from the 2016 Korea Media Panel Survey conducted with 8,439 Korean adults.
Findings
The results indicated that political participation is generally associated with the use of online news forums, online communities, online services and online information production, but not with the use of social networking sites (SNSs). Additional analyses revealed that the use of different Internet modes has an indirect effect on voting intention through political information seeking. The analysis also showed that a number of sociodemographic characteristics influence political participation.
Originality/value
As one of the first studies to focus on active information behaviors in examining the influence of Internet use, this study enhances the understanding of how human behaviors are shaped by digital technology. By providing guidelines for the use of different modes of the Internet, the findings of this study also have practical implications for efforts to encourage political participation.
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Jun Yang, Eric Zengxiang Wang and Yunbi An
The purpose of this paper is to study filer identities and voting outcomes of Canadian shareholder proposals and their impact on shareholders' wealth during the period from 2001…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study filer identities and voting outcomes of Canadian shareholder proposals and their impact on shareholders' wealth during the period from 2001 to 2008.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 762 Canadian shareholder proposals and related information on targeted firms were collected from the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) and the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) databases. Statistical analyses are carried out on the features of shareholder proposals. Regression analyses are performed on voting outcomes, and an event study is conducted to test the impact of shareholder proposals on stock prices.
Findings
The authors' analyses show that proposals submitted by institutions or coordinated shareholder groups receive stronger support than those submitted by individuals and religious groups. Targeted firms are more willing and more likely to reach agreements with institutional investors, which in turn prompts activists to withdraw their proposals. The voting behavior of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) has a significant impact on voting outcomes. The targeted firms' stock prices respond substantially to news on proposals submitted by institutional and coordinated investors and proposals on social and environmental issues.
Originality/value
In addition to in‐depth analyses (issues, filers, voting outcomes, and impacts on stock price) of Canadian shareholder proposals, this paper explores the voting behaviour and impact of a large institutional shareholder that has been passive in filing shareholder proposals. Special attention is paid to Canadian features of shareholder activism, and differences between Canadian and US shareholder proposals are highlighted and discussed. The paper thus extends shareholder activism studies from focusing on open shareholder activists to investigating passive institutional shareholders.
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This paper discusses the results of a survey sent to online searchers in four countries: the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada. The survey form provided a…
Abstract
This paper discusses the results of a survey sent to online searchers in four countries: the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada. The survey form provided a sample question and asked searchers to prepare a preliminary strategy for a search in the Sociological Abstracts database. American searchers depend on controlled vocabulary much more than British searchers. Australian searchers have created their own search pattern, while Canadian searchers have blended the American and British patterns. In reviewing results of the searches, over half of the citations retrieved were retrieved by more than one search. Australian searchers were more likely to retrieve items that no other search retrieved, while Canadian searchers had the highest overlap rate.
John W. Michel, Devin L. Wallace and Rachel A. Rawlings
This paper aims to use the stereotype content model to explore the extent to which voter admiration for presidential candidates mediates the charismatic leadership – voting…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to use the stereotype content model to explore the extent to which voter admiration for presidential candidates mediates the charismatic leadership – voting behavior relationship. The paper also seeks to test whether system justification beliefs moderate the mediated relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Using data collected both before and after the 2008 US presidential election, this paper tested the hypothesized relationships using a conditional indirect effects model with 126 undergraduate students enrolled in the psychology department and business school of a large university in the USA.
Findings
Results demonstrated that admiration mediates the charismatic leadership – voting behavior relationship. Moreover, this mediated relationship varied by system justification beliefs.
Practical implications
These results suggest that charismatic leaders arouse specific emotions (i.e. admiration) in followers and that emotional arousal inspires followers to act on the behalf of the leader. However, this relationship only holds when people are motivated to embrace change. This suggests that not all followers will be responsive to charismatic leaders.
Social implications
For political leaders, these findings suggest that being charismatic is important when change motives are high, but it may be less important when stability is highly valued.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates that charismatic leaders do arouse the emotions of followers and that such emotions motivate followers to engage in behaviors on behalf of the leader.
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Da-Chi Liao, Wen Bin Chiou, Jinhyeok Jang and Shao Hua Cheng
Drawing on cognitive theories of information and democracy, this paper argues that carefully designed voting advice applications (VAAs) strengthen voter competence by matching…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on cognitive theories of information and democracy, this paper argues that carefully designed voting advice applications (VAAs) strengthen voter competence by matching voters’ preferences on important policy issues with parties' relevant positions on those issues.
Design/methodology/approach
To examine the causal effect of information acquisition on voting willingness, we employed a lab experiment on the pioneering VAA program in Taiwan: iVoter. Our participants consisted of 120 undergraduates who were randomly assigned to be treated (two groups) or controlled (one group). Each participant of the respective treatment groups was provided with full or partial information. The purpose was to identify the ideological distance between the participant and the respective political parties. Individuals in the control group did not receive the respective information prior to their decision on whether to vote or not.
Findings
Those who received full relevant information were most willing to vote in the forthcoming elections. We furthermore found VAA utilization to be positively associated with other aspects of democracy, such as political enthusiasm, civic duty and political efficacy.
Originality/value
This paper aims to contribute to the development of VAAs and to democracy as a whole by confirming a causal link between receiving relevant information and voting willingness.
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Chien-Yi Hsiang and Julia Taylor Rayz
This study aims to predict popular contributors through text representations of user-generated content in open crowds.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to predict popular contributors through text representations of user-generated content in open crowds.
Design/methodology/approach
Three text representation approaches – count vector, Tf-Idf vector, word embedding and supervised machine learning techniques – are used to generate popular contributor predictions.
Findings
The results of the experiments demonstrate that popular contributor predictions are considered successful. The F1 scores are all higher than the baseline model. Popular contributors in open crowds can be predicted through user-generated content.
Research limitations/implications
This research presents brand new empirical evidence drawn from text representations of user-generated content that reveals why some contributors' ideas are more viral than others in open crowds.
Practical implications
This research suggests that companies can learn from popular contributors in ways that help them improve customer agility and better satisfy customers' needs. In addition to boosting customer engagement and triggering discussion, popular contributors' ideas provide insights into the latest trends and customer preferences. The results of this study will benefit marketing strategy, new product development, customer agility and management of information systems.
Originality/value
The paper provides new empirical evidence for popular contributor prediction in an innovation crowd through text representation approaches.
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