Barry Markovsky University of South Carolina
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Public Law 111-5).
This project investigates fairness perceptions in public goods settings. These are social contexts in which participants choose whether or not to contribute to something that benefits everyone, but all benefit equally regardless of whether they contribute. Rational choice theories typically model the conditions for the emergence of cooperation in such contexts based on the structure of incentives. This research employs a theory of fairness perceptions?multilevel justice theory?to predict how fairness considerations guide critical judgments and choices. Individuals believe fairness judgments are critical in public goods settings because whether or not the collective benefit can be maintained depends on the aggregation of the individual choices. The PI will conduct three experiments to test hypotheses derived from multilevel justice theory. Study 1 tests the effects of salient features of contributions to the group, specifically, whether contributions are framed as absolute amounts or as proportions of one?s resources. Fairness judgments and subsequent decisions are hypothesized to vary considerably based on the framing of contributions. Study 2 treats subgroups, rather than individuals, as the decision-making units but otherwise replicates the first study?s design and hypotheses. Study 3 looks at the effects of two kinds of group orientation factors on individual justice conceptions: social identification (feeling part of the larger group) and social value orientation (preferences regarding the distribution of resources between self and others). Based on previous research, it is hypothesized that will be an interaction effect whereby group identification plays a secondary role to social value orientation.
Broader Impacts: Research employing public goods settings is increasing in the fields of sociology, psychology, economics and political science because of its relevance to many real-world phenomena, e.g., priming social movements and maintaining public education systems. This research combines social dilemmas and justice and has the potential to inform policy on issues such as taxation, environmental policy, law enforcement, and international relations. Findings will also contribute to a better understanding of public reactions to the new government programs.
