External Efficacy and Perceived Responsiveness—Similar but Distinct Concepts

Esaiasson, Peter; Kölln, Ann‐Kristin; Turper, Sedef

doi:10.1093/ijpor/edv003

Cited by 49 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Specifically, respondents were asked to think about the politicians in the scenario they had just read about and to state whether those politicians had 'found out about the wishes of citizens' (listened), 'tried to accommodate the wishes of citizens' (accommodated) and 'explained their policy to citizens' (explained). The survey thus precisely replicates Esaiasson et al's (2015Esaiasson et al's ( , 2017 measure of 'perceived responsiveness' -but since the explained item is not directly relevant to the treatments, I also confirm below that the findings are unaffected by the question's inclusion. Possible answers once again ranged from 0 ('not really') to 10 ('very much so').…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 70%

“…The experimental design most closely replicates that of Esaiasson et al (2017), which examined the relative influence of (hypothetical) Swedish politicians' attempts to listen to constituents, to explain their actions to them and to adapt their decisions to the will of the majority (see also Esaiasson et al, 2015). In the present study, however, each of the treatments (apart from the control) includes listening and excludes explanation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The next page of the survey then posed three follow-up questions designed to assess perceived responsiveness (see Esaiasson et al, 2015). Specifically, respondents were asked to think about the politicians in the scenario they had just read about and to state whether those politicians had 'found out about the wishes of citizens' (listened), 'tried to accommodate the wishes of citizens' (accommodated) and 'explained their policy to citizens' (explained).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Input from Whom? Public Reactions to Consultation Measures

Kevins

2020

Political Studies

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Most legislation neither affects nor interests citizens equally. But should this variation in interest and affectedness impact who gets to influence policy reforms? This article examines US public opinion on this issue using a national survey experiment varying both the policy outcome (a bill’s passage/failure) and the type of constituency input granted by elected representatives (none/constituency surveys/targeting interested constituents/targeting affected constituents). It then compares reactions across treatment groups, examining the impact of outcome favourability as well as external and internal political efficacy. Results suggest that granting constituents explicit policy influence consistently affected perceived responsiveness in the expected manner, but that the different consultation procedures had more varied effects on decision acceptance. Furthermore, where the procedures impacted decision acceptance, they pushed the reactions of both the pleased and the displeased towards more muted responses. Finally, similar ‘cushion effects’ were present when external and internal political efficacy were incorporated into the analysis.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 70%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Input from Whom? Public Reactions to Consultation Measures

Kevins

2020

Political Studies

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“…5 All items were measured on a 0 to 10 point scale with designated endpoints to a very small degree and to a very large degree. The psychometric qualities of these measures have been evaluated with satisfactory results (Esaiasson, Kölln, & Turper, 2015). Items were combined into an additive index (Cronbach's α = .87), which was rescaled to vary between 0 and 10.…”

Section: Measurements Sample Information and Randomization Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responsiveness Beyond Policy Satisfaction: Does It Matter to Citizens?

Esaiasson

Gilljam

Persson

2016

Comparative Political Studies

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112

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Can politicians facilitate citizen acceptance of unwelcome policy decisions by acting responsively during the decision-making process ? We suggest a framework to analyze the responsiveness-acceptance connection and report findings from two studies designed for that purpose. First, we ran a survey experiment to examine how exogenously induced responsiveness actions affect reactions to a policy decision. Second, we conducted a case study to see how results hold up in a real-world setting. We find that responsiveness actions are rewarded provided that citizens are convinced that politicians have paid attention to their wishes and views. Responsiveness actions that signal willingness to communicate ("to listen" and "to explain") are more effective than the action to follow majority opinion ("to adapt"). However, the responsiveness-acceptance connection is sensitive to perceptual bias; policy losers are hard pressed to accept that politicians have indeed acted responsively. Keywords research-article2016 740 Comparative Political Studies 50(6)Politicians frequently make policy decisions that are unwelcome to some citizens. Examples of this kind are decisions to raise income tax, to cut back on unemployment compensation, and to regulate Internet use. An unwanted consequence of such decisions is that citizens who have their preferences denied are forced to live by rules that they do not approve of (Przeworski, 2010). Because democratic states seek to minimize coercion, it is preferable that disappointed citizens are motivated to voluntarily accept the new policies (Levi, 1997). 1 When searching for ways to facilitate decision acceptance, democratic theory directs attention to procedural factors. The argument is that citizens have reason to accept decisions they dislike if they are made through fair procedural arrangements (e.g., Dahl, 1989). In the context of policy decisions, a central procedural requirement is that politicians are responsive to citizens' wishes and views (Dahl, 1971;Pitkin, 1967). Responsiveness, thus, is regarded as a means to counteract the unwanted consequences of controversial policy decisions: If politicians act responsively during the decisionmaking process, they will be rewarded not only by policy winners but also by policy losers who, while disappointed with the outcome of the decision, will appreciate the fairness of the process.However, the procedural solution is demanding on policy losers. It works only if disappointed citizens agree with politicians about the meaning of acting responsively and if procedural considerations can indeed compensate for the burden of living under rules that one disagree with. Acknowledging that we are dealing with a complex problem in democracy, this article sets out to improve on our common understanding of the responsiveness-acceptance connection.In the most general sense, politicians act responsively by paying attention to citizens' wishes and demands (Korolev, 2015;Soroka & Wlezien, 2010). An obvious way for politicians to demonstrate attentivene...

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“…He further made distinction between them both as input structure and output structure and called willingness of response as input external efficacy and capability of response as external output efficacy. Esaiasson et al (2015) criticized the use of external use of political efficacy as perceived response of the state and state apparatuses. Political efficacy is a very strong indicator of political involvement and an effective predictor of participation in political activities (Smets & Van Ham, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political Trust and Efficacy among Educated Youth in Pakistan

Ahmad

Yousaf

Bhatti

2019

GRR

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Political trust and efficacy are very popular among academics to foresee the legitimacy and the constancy of any political regime. The present research was endeavored to see political trust and efficacy among university students in Pakistan. A sample of 381 students was drawn from two public sector universities of the Islamabad city. The research included all the popular constructs of political trust including trust in army keeping in view its role in politics. The efficacy comprised its two components – the internal and external. Results indicate the positive, significant inter-correlations among most of the constructs of study variables except trust in the legal system and external efficacy. The results denote the significant level of trust and effectiveness of educated youth however, we assume that the populism approach prevails and enthusiasm of youth may also be measured from this approach.

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External Efficacy and Perceived Responsiveness—Similar but Distinct Concepts

Cited by 49 publications

References 29 publications

Input from Whom? Public Reactions to Consultation Measures

Input from Whom? Public Reactions to Consultation Measures

Responsiveness Beyond Policy Satisfaction: Does It Matter to Citizens?

Political Trust and Efficacy among Educated Youth in Pakistan

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