Publikationsliste KOPS

How does technological change affect social policy preferences across different institutional contexts? In this paper, we argue that individuals who perceive high levels of technology-related employment risks prefer passive policies like unemployment benefits over active measures like retraining in order to satisfy the need for immediate compensation in the case of job loss. At the same time, general support for passive (active) policy solutions to technological change should be significantly lower (higher) in countries where generous compensation schemes already exist. As the perception of technology-related employment risks increases, however, we expect that social policy preferences among high-risk individuals should converge across different welfare state contexts. We use novel data from a diverse set of 24 OECD countries that specifically measure preferred social policy solutions to technological change in a constrained choice scenario. Applying statistical methods that explicitly model the trade-off faced by individuals, we find evidence in line with our theoretical expectations.

There is mixed support for the glass cliff hypothesis that firms will more likely appoint female candidates into top management positions when in crisis. We trace the inconsistent findings back to an underdeveloped theoretical link and deficient identification strategies. Using signaling theory, we suggest that crisis firms appoint female top managers to signal change to the market and argue that the effect is context-dependent. In a field study of 26,156 executive appointments in U.S. firms between 2000 and 2016, we exploit a regression discontinuity to test for the causal impact of firm crisis status on the likelihood of female top management appointments and for moderators of the effect. We find that crisis status leads to a significant increase in female top management appointments and that crisis (vs. noncrisis) firms are more likely to frame female appointments as change-related in press releases. Importantly, the presence of the glass cliff effect hinges on attributes of the signaler (absence of another female executive), signal (appointment type), and receiver (investor attention). The findings robustly evidence the glass cliff and our theoretical extensions.

How do the labor market risks associated with technological change affect policy preferences? We argue that higher perceptions of technology-related risks should increase support for compensation and decrease support for social investment. We expect the opposite effect for individuals who use technology constantly at work, have a university degree and earn higher incomes. However, as the perception of technology-related employment risks in the latter group of individuals increases, so does their preference for compensatory and protective policy solutions to technological change. Our expectations are confirmed by novel data from a survey of 24 diverse Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries that includes specifically designed questions on technology-related risks and policy preferences. The results suggest that technology-related risks not only correlate with certain demographic and occupational characteristics, but also cross-cut them. Thus, technology-related risks might not only become a source of new cleavages between the losers and winners of technological change, but also the basis for new cross-class coalitions.

Over the last 25 years, the BRICs asserted themselves as drivers of globalization. But what does their new-found prominence mean for working conditions at home? Using a novel sub-national database covering outward investment linkages and working conditions in Brazilian municipalities, this study tests whether a direct investment in Europe leads to the introduction of decent working conditions in Brazil. The empirical results provide strong support for the investing-up effect using a mixture of panel data analysis and text analysis. The results suggest that economic integration with high-standard developed countries can act as a powerful mechanism for labor standard improvements in developing countries.

Employing new and original survey data collected in three waves (April/May and November 2020 as well as May 2021) in Germany, this paper studies the dynamics of individual-level support for additional health care spending. A first major finding is that, so far, health care spending preferences have not radically changed during the Covid-19 pandemic, at least at the aggregate level. A more detailed analysis reveals, secondly, that individual-level support for additional spending on health care is strongly conditioned by performance perceptions and, to a lesser extent, general political trust. Citizens who regard the system as badly (well) prepared to cope with the crisis are more likely to support (oppose) additional spending. Higher levels of political trust are also positively associated with spending support, but to a lesser degree. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for policy-making and welfare state politics in the post-pandemic era.

Cross-cultural comparisons are often based on a single itemset that is used in several cultures and languages being translated semantically correct. In contrast, a new, emic, approach measures the same construct with individually created items for each culture and language. To test this emic approach, the current paper used the stereotype content model (SCM) with its dimensions, warmth, and competence. It is used to compare perceptions of people, residing in different countries, speaking different languages. The current paper reports a study (N = 2,901) that tests whether an adapted scale allows reliable and structurally valid measurement and comparisons of culturally emic protagonists on SCM dimensions across four languages (English, German, Portuguese, Spanish) in eight countries (United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Brazil, Spain, Argentina). The warmth dimension emerges as largely universal, but the competence dimension is a more culture-specific construct. Cross-cultural comparisons as to the competence dimension should be treated with care.

To reduce the number of sedentary people, an improved understanding of effects of exercise in this specific group is needed. The present project investigates the impact of regular aerobic exercise uptake on body image, and how this effect is associated with differences in interoceptive abilities and affective response to exercise. Participants were 29 sedentary adults who underwent a 12-week aerobic physical activity intervention comprised of 30–36 sessions. Body image was improved with large effect sizes. Correlations were observed between affective response to physical activity and body image improvement, but not with interoceptive abilities. Explorative mediation models suggest a neglectable role of a priori interoceptive abilities. Instead, body image improvement was achieved when positive valence was assigned to interoceptive cues experienced during exercise.

The present article investigates the relationship between the degree of tracking and inequalities in reading literacy of second-generation and non-immigrant students in 28 Western countries. The article takes into account that next to between-school tracking, there are also more subtle forms of tracking, such as tracking within schools or classes. By elaborating how the distinct mechanisms of different tracking characteristics generate achievement inequalities, I assume that any negative effects of tracking on second-generation immigrant students’ achievements are primarily driven by differences in the quality of school environments. Data from the Programme for International Student Assessment 2018 are used and multilevel regression analysis with country-fixed effects are applied. The findings reveal that a higher tracking degree is related to substantial disadvantages in reading literacy for immigrant children. Furthermore, a higher immigrant concentration in schools is associated with immigrant inequalities in reading performance as the degree of tracking increases, whereas unequal distributions of teacher and instructional quality were found to generate inequalities in countries with less tracking. Even though the results are only partly in line with the theory of tracking influences on immigrant achievement disadvantages, they suggest that the interplay between institutional tracking and school characteristics are crucial for learning inequalities.

Research in social gerontology has suggested that structural complexity of personal networks could moderate cognitive decline of older adults. In line with the environmental complexity hypothesis, their cognitive functioning would benefit from a high number of cohesive subgroups in their own personal networks, i.e., various social foci, thanks to higher cognitive stimuli from various social interactions. Yet, past studies considered only compositional diversity of networks due to lack of data on alter–alter ties. To fill this gap, we collected survey ego-network data on frequent social contacts (including alter–alter ties) and cognitive functioning on a sample of individuals aged 75 in Brescia, Italy (N = 230). As a proxy for social foci, we detected cohesive subgroups within each respondent’s personal networks. Results showed a positive association between the number of cohesive subgroups and cognitive functioning, regardless of the network size, while controlling for relevant socio-demographic attributes and depression symptoms. Our findings testify to the importance of granular network data in studying the link between social relationships and cognitive functioning.

Online censorship has become a common feature in autocracies. Previous work has investigated different online censorship tactics such as website blocking or cyberattacks independently. In reality, however, autocratic governments rely on a repertoire of censorship techniques to control online communication, which they are likely to use depending on the respective political situation on the ground. In this article, we study the interplay of different online censorship techniques empirically. Focusing on new Internet measurement techniques and large existing datasets, we study the relationship between website blocking and cyberattacks (Denial-of-Service). Our results provide evidence that autocrats select tactics from their censorship repertoire depending on the current level of contention. During quiet times, we find some evidence that governments rely on different censorship tactics in parallel. In weeks with protest, however, website blocking is negatively associated with Denial-of-Service attacks against opposition websites. This shows that when the stakes are high, autocrats become more selective in their use of censorship.