The political economy of dissonance

Brady, Gordon L.; Clark, J. R.; Davis, William L.

doi:10.1007/bf01047728

Cited by 29 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…The basic premise of the theory is that individuals naturally prefer to behave in a manner consistent with their values (Schlicht, 1984). Cognitive dissonance is defined as the uncomfortable feeling (stress) caused by holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously (for detailed discussions, see Eiser, 1994;Brady et al, 1995;and Harmon-Jones and Mills, 1999). Dissonance either has to be resolved or managed and Brady et al (1995) identify five dissonance management options: revoking the original decision; increasing the appeal of the chosen option; reducing the appeal of the other available options;…”

Section: Behavioural Perspective: Cognitive Dissonance Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Secondly, it may explaining why charities introduce ethical investment policies -to reduce the dissonance experienced by trustees, management and employees upon realising that there is a conflict between investment practices and the charity's aims 8 . Finally, it may explain how some charities manage dissonance -by convincing themselves that the implementation of an ethical policy is untenable because the information does not exist or would be too costly to procure (Brady et al, 1995;Plant, 2003).…”

Section: Behavioural Perspective: Cognitive Dissonance Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Putting our money where their mouth is: Alignment of charitable aims with charity investments – Tensions in policy and practice

Kreander

Beattie

McPhail

2009

The British Accounting Review

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AcknowledgementsWe gratefully acknowledge ACCA funding for this project and the helpful comments from participants at the EAA 2005 Conference in Gothenburg, the IPA 2006 conference in Cardiff and the BAA 2006 Conference in Portsmouth and from two anonymous reviewers. We also wish to thank the charity representatives who completed our questionnaire and who agreed to be interviewed. Putting Our Money Where Their Mouth Is: Alignment of Charitable Aims with Charity Investments -Tensions in Policy and Practice AbstractGiven the values-driven nature of the mission of most charities, it might be expected that investment behaviour would be similarly values-driven. This paper documents the ethical investment policies and practices of the largest UK charities and explores how these are aligned with the charitable aims, drawing upon accountability, behavioural and managerial perspectives as theoretical lenses. The study employs two distinct research methods: responses to a postal questionnaire and follow-up semi-structured interviews with selected charities. The evidence indicates that a significant minority of large charities do not have a written ethical investment policy. Charities with larger investments, fundraising charities and religious charities were more likely to have a written ethical policy. We suggest that there is a pressing need for improved alignment between charities' aims and their investment practices and better monitoring of investment policies.

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Section: Behavioural Perspective: Cognitive Dissonance Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Behavioural Perspective: Cognitive Dissonance Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Putting our money where their mouth is: Alignment of charitable aims with charity investments – Tensions in policy and practice

Kreander

Beattie

McPhail

2009

The British Accounting Review

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“…Akerlof and Dickens (1982) assume that individuals employed in dangerous workplaces have an incentive to disclaim the cognition that their workplace is dangerous, which results in an inefficiently low demand for safety gear. Mayer (1993) shows that policy decisions of American central bankers can be explained by referring to the concept of cognitive dissonance, and Meier and Durrer (1992) introduce aspects of individual an social cognition into a model of economic policy-making (see also Brady, Clark, & Davis, 1995;Slembeck, 1997). Much of the literature on dissonance, both from economists and psychologists, tends to focus on the ex post reactions to dissonance: One behaves in a way that is inconsistent with one's beliefs, and this results in a change of beliefs in order to reduce dissonance.…”

Section: The Role Of Dissonancementioning

confidence: 98%

Tax Morale and the Taming of Leviathan

Schnellenbach

2006

Constit Polit Econ

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An explanation for tax morale based upon a simple model of psychological costs that depend on the perceived legitimacy of public policies is introduced. It is shown that empirically observed low levels of tax evasion can be explained even for a risk-neutral taxpayer with such a model. In a discussion of aggregate tax revenue, it is argued that tax revenue as a function of tax rates may differ fundamentally from the notorious Laffer curve. It is then necessary to look at the interaction of formal and informal institutions to predict the nominal tax rates chosen by a revenue maximizer. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006Tax evasion, Tax morale, Cognitive dissonance, Informal institutions, H26, Z13,

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“…As an example of the first category, the theory of "cognitive dissonance" suggests itself, which was developed by Festinger (1957) and interpreted for economists by Akerlof/Dickens (1982). The latter summarise the results of cognitive-psychological research: Applications of these propositions to a theory of political behaviour should prove most promising for a Schumpeterian theory of democracy in which the manipulation of beliefs would be a prominent feature (Brady/Clark/Davis 1995). Whereas Schumpeter stressed the fact that voter-citizens are objects to manipulation by political leaders, the (conscious or unconscious) attempts of individuals to "manipulate" themselves by selecting confirming and comforting information also deserves recognition in a "chapter of social psychology".…”

Section: Non-instrumentalistic Elements In Voting Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Schumpeterian political economy and Downsian public choice: alternative economic theories of democracy

Wohlgemuth¹

2005

Law and the State

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Joseph Schumpeter is often regarded a founder of Public Choice. Looking closely at mainstream Public Choice and Schumpeter's writings on democracy, this claim is rejected. But I not only want to "get the history of ideas right". I also address some uneasy foundations (e.g. voter rationality in low-cost environments) and still neglected issues (e.g. political leadership and opinion-formation) of Public Choice theory. First, Schumpeterian democracy as a competitive struggle for leadership is contrasted with Downsian models, where parties adapt to given median positions within given issue spaces. Then, areas of research are identified that do address Schumpeterian issues: (cognitive) economics of bounded political rationality and (evolutionary) economics of political leadership and opinion formation.

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The political economy of dissonance

Cited by 29 publications

References 17 publications

Putting our money where their mouth is: Alignment of charitable aims with charity investments – Tensions in policy and practice

Putting our money where their mouth is: Alignment of charitable aims with charity investments – Tensions in policy and practice

Tax Morale and the Taming of Leviathan

Schumpeterian political economy and Downsian public choice: alternative economic theories of democracy

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