Psychological and Sociological Factors Weakening Public Budget Awareness

Year 2019, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 127 - 144, 30.12.2019

Fidan Kılavuz Cihan Yüksel

https://doi.org/10.30927/ijpf.634944

Cited By: 2

Abstract

Public budget, which is the total of the
expenditures made to meet the common needs of the society and of the revenues
obtained to finance these expenditures can be expressed with a “common wallet”
metaphor. However, the main problem is, in case that public resources are not
used correctly and effectively, why citizens do not show as much sensitivity
towards their common wallets, as they show towards their personal wallets. It
is important to examine the factors that weaken public budget awareness (common
wallet perception) on the basis of behavioral economics, which is an area that
observes the effects of people's attitudes, behaviors and thoughts on
economic-based choices and decisions and examines these observations based on
experiments. For this reason, the main purpose of our study has been to bring
some concepts used in the fields of psychology and sociology in the field of
public finance. In this study, the "fiscal alienation" concept was
derived from the concept of lack of social belonging, “lack of fiscal
altruistic punishment" concept from the concept of altruistic punishment,
"fiscal bystander effect" from the concept of the bystander effect,
"fiscal social loafing" concept from the concept of social loafing,
"behavioral fiscal dissonance" concept from the concept of the theory
of cognitive dissonance, and "the problem of fiscal ethic" concept
from the concept of undeveloped ethical culture/behaviors.

Keywords

Public Budget, Common Wallet, Behavioral Economics, Fiscal Psychology, Fiscal Sociology

Psychological and Sociological Factors Weakening Public Budget Awareness

Abstract

Public
budget, which is the total of the expenditures made to meet the common needs of
the society and of the revenues obtained to finance these expenditures can be
expressed with a “common wallet” metaphor. However, the main problem is, in the case that public resources are not used correctly and effectively, why citizens
do not show as much sensitivity towards their common wallets, as they show
towards their personal wallets. It is important to examine the factors that
weaken public budget awareness (common wallet perception) on the basis of
behavioral economics, which is an area that observes the effects of people's
attitudes, behaviors, and thoughts on economic-based choices and decisions and
examines these observations based on experiments. For this reason, the main
purpose of our study has been to bring some concepts used in the fields of
psychology and sociology in the field of public finance. In this study, the "fiscal
alienation" concept was derived from the concept of lack of social
belonging, “lack of fiscal altruistic punishment" concept from the concept
of altruistic punishment, "fiscal bystander effect" from the concept
of the bystander effect, "fiscal social loafing" concept from the
concept of social loafing, "behavioral fiscal dissonance" concept
from the concept of the theory of cognitive dissonance, and "the problem
of fiscal ethic" concept from the concept of undeveloped ethical
culture/behaviors.

Keywords

Public Budget, Common Wallet, Behavioral Economics, Fiscal Psychology, Fiscal Sociology

References

• Alptekin, D. (2011). "Toplumsal Aidiyet ve Gençlik: Üniversite Gençliğinin Aidiyeti Üzerine Sosyolojik Bir Araştırma", Selçuk University Social Sciences Institute, (Unpublished doctoral dissertation), Konya.
• Barclay, P. (2006). "Reputational Benefits for Altruistic Punishment", Evolution and Human Behavior, Vol. 27 (5), pp. 325-344.
• Bolin, A. U. & Neuman, G. A. (2006). "Personality, Process, and Performance in Interactive Brainstorming Groups", Journal of Business and Psychology, Vol. 20 (4), pp. 565-585.
• Doğan, A., Bozkurt, S. & Demir, R. (2012). "Sosyal Kaytarma Davranışı İle Algılanan Görev Görünürlüğü Arasındaki İlişkinin İncelenmesine Yönelik Bir Araştırma", Sosyal Ekonomik Araştırmalar Dergisi, Vol. 12 (24), pp. 53-80.
• Eryılmaz, B. (2008). "Etik Kültürü Geliştirmek", Türk İdare Dergisi, Vol. 459, pp. 1-12.
• Fehr, E. & Gächter, S. (2002). "Altruistic Punishment in Humans", Nature, Vol. 415 (6868), pp. 137-140.
• Festinger, L. (1957). A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, California: Stanford University Press.
• Forsyth, D. R., Zyzniewski, L. E. & Giammanco, C. A. (2002). "Responsibility Diffusion in Cooperative Collectives", Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 28 (1), pp. 54-65.
• Fredricks, S., Ramsey, M. & Hornett, A. (2011). "Kinship and Bystander Effect: The Role of Others in Ethical Decisions", Journal of Religion and Business Ethics, Vol. 2 (1), pp. 1-22.
• Grantham, T. C. (2011). "New Directions for Gifted Black Males Suffering From Bystander Effects: A Call for Upstanders", Roeper Review, Vol. 33 (4), pp. 263-272.
• Güney, Ş. & Bahçekapılı, H. G. (2010). "İnsanlarda Özgeci İşbirliğinin Psikolojik ve Beyinsel Temelleri", Türk Psikoloji Yazıları, Vol. 13 (25), pp. 29-38.
• Harcum, E. R. & Badura, L. L. (1990). "Social Loafing As Response to an Appraisal of Appropriate Effort", The Journal of Psychology, Vol. 124 (6), pp. 629-637.
• Harkins, S. G. & Petty, R. E. (1982). "Effects of Task Difficulty and Task Uniqueness on Social Loafing", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 43 (6), pp. 1214-1229.
• Haşlak, İ. (2006). "Etik Kongresinin Ardından", Akademik İncelemeler Dergisi (AID), Vol. 1 (1), pp. 185-192.
• Hudson, J. M. & Bruckman, A. S. (2004). "The Bystander Effect: A Lens for Understanding Patterns of Participation", The Journal of the Learning Sciences, Vol. 13 (2), pp. 165-195.
• Karadağ, E. & Mutafçılar, I. (2009). "Prososyal Davranış Ekseninde Özgecilik Üzerine Teorik Bir Çözümleme", Felsefe ve Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, Vol. 8, pp. 41-70.
• Karau, S. J. & Hart, J. W. (1998). "Group Cohesiveness and Social Loafing: Effects of a Social Interaction Manipulation on Individual Motivation within Groups", Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, Vol. 2 (3), pp. 185-191.
• Karau, S. J. & Williams, K. D. (1993). "Social Loafing: A Meta-Analytic Review and Theoretical Integration", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 65 (4), pp. 681-706.
• Kravitz, D. A. & Martin, B. (1986). "Ringelmann Rediscovered: The Original Article", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 50 (5), pp. 936-941.
• Latané, B., Williams, K. & Harkins, S. (1979). "Many Hands Make Light The Work: The Causes and Consequences of Social Loafing", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 37 (6), pp. 822-832.
• Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Jaworski, R. A. & Bennett, N. (2004). "Social Loafing: A Field Investigation", Journal of Management, Vol. 30 (2), pp. 285-304.
• Özdemir, M. (2012). "Kamu Yönetiminde Etik", Uluslararası Yönetim İktisat ve İşletme Dergisi, Vol. 4 (7), pp. 177-193.
• Özdevecioğlu, M., Kaya, Y. & Dedeoğlu, T. (2014). "Kişilik Özelliklerinin İzleyici Etkisi (Bystander Effect) Üzerindeki Etkisinde Kontrol Odağının Rolü", Erciyes Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, Vol. 42, pp. 25-40.
• Paull, M., Omari, M. & Standen, P. (2012). "When Is A Bystander Not A Bystander? A Typology of the Roles of Bystanders in Workplace Bullying", Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 50 (3), pp. 351-366.
• Sagarin, B. J. & Lawler-Sagarin, K. A. (2005). "Critically Evaluating Competing Theories: An Exercise Based On the Kitty Genovese Murder", Teaching of Psychology, Vol. 32 (3), pp. 167-169.
• Seeman, M. (1959). "On the Meaning of Alienation", American Sociological Review, Vol. 24 (6), pp. 783-791.
• Silah, M. (2000). Sosyal Psikoloji (Davranış Bilimi), Ankara: Gazi Kitabevi.
• Taner, B. & İştin, A. E. (2017). "Çalışma Ortamında Sosyal Kaytarma", Uluslararası İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi, Vol. 3 (3), pp. 25-41.
• Toigonbaeva, D. & Eser, R. (2011). "Psikoloji ve İktisadın Birleşimi Olarak, Davranışsal Iktisat", Eskişehir Osmangazi Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi, Vol. 6 (1), pp. 287-321.
• Yalçın, Ö. & Dönmez, A. (2017). "Sosyal Psikolojik Açıdan Yabancılaşma: Dean’in Yabancılaşma Ölçeği’nin Türkçeye Uyarlanması", Ankara Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, Vol. 8 (2), pp. 150-175.
• Yüceol, H. M. (2013). Ahlâki Ekonomi, Ankara: Detay Yayıncılık.
• Zijderveld, A. C. (1970). The Abstract Society: A Cultural Analysis of Our Time, Garden City, NY: Doubleday.