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Which decision‐making arrangements generate the strongest legitimacy beliefs? Evidence from a randomised field experiment
Author(s) -
ESAIASSON PETER,
GILLJAM MIKAEL,
PERSSON MIKAEL
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
european journal of political research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.267
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1475-6765
pISSN - 0304-4130
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-6765.2011.02052.x
Subject(s) - legitimacy , field (mathematics) , citizen journalism , decision making , empirical evidence , constitution , process (computing) , decision process , sociology , social psychology , public relations , psychology , political science , economics , law , management science , computer science , epistemology , politics , operations management , philosophy , mathematics , purchasing , pure mathematics , operating system
Abstract How can democracies satisfy citizens' demands for legitimate decision making? This article reports findings from a randomised field experiment designed to mimic decision making in large‐scale democracies. Natural collectives of individuals with a shared history and future (high school classes) were studied. They were asked to make a decision about how to spend a sum of money under arrangements imposed by the researchers and distributed randomly across classes. Within this setting, empirical support for three ideas about legitimacy enhancing decision‐making arrangements is tested: participatory constitution‐making; personal involvement in the decision‐making process; and fairness in the implementation of arrangements. Throughout the analyses it was found that personal involvement is the main factor generating legitimacy beliefs.