Title: The challenge of globalisation: a world-wide investigation of public attitudes on individual vs. government responsibility

Authors: Ida Ørjansen Heggem; Tor Georg Jakobsen

Addresses: Department of Sociology and Political Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU-Dragvoll, 7491 Trondheim, Norway ' Trondheim Business School, Høgskolen i Sør-Trøndelag, P.O. Box 2320, 7004 Trondheim, Norway

Abstract: In this article we explore the link between economic globalisation and individual attitudes toward government responsibility for provision of its citizens. Two opposing views on the effect of globalisation is presented, along with a third where the argument is that the direction is different for developed and developing countries. The hypotheses are tested using individual-level data from the World Values Survey, together with a measure of economic globalisation taken from the KOF Index. Our sample is drawn from 79 countries from all continents. The results show that there is a general rightist effect of globalisation on individual vs. government responsibility. However, the findings also revealed a curvilinear effect: the slope changes from leftist to rightist after a certain turning point has been reached. The evidence indicates that economic globalisation has an effect on public attitudes on economic questions. When people realise their country is competitive in the global market, they shift their attitudes to the right.

Keywords: multilevel modelling; compensation hypothesis; economic globalisation; government responsibility; public attitudes; political behaviour; individual responsibility.

DOI: 10.1504/WREMSD.2016.079316

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 2016 Vol.12 No.4, pp.381 - 398

Received: 20 Jun 2014
Accepted: 02 Dec 2014
Published online: 27 Sep 2016 *

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