Experiments on the Role of State Actors in Eliciting Pro-Developmental Behavioral Change

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Governments are often tasked with providing important collective and individual benefits to citizens, but, in many key policy areas, citizens must take action in order for these benefits to be realized. For example, governments and NGOs have long understood that expanding access to healthcare and education in underserved communities requires poorer citizens to avail themselves of public programs. In the wake of the pandemic, the question of how states can elicit individual behavioral change has taken on pressing significance for policy-makers and practitioners in the United States and beyond. Through an experimental examination of how messages from state actors shape participation in government health and education benefits, this project will directly inform efforts to implement initiatives which rely on pro-developmental actions from citizens. The project explores how citizen relationships with and perceptions of particular state actors shape the success of these actors in motivating pro-developmental behaviors. It posits that this success will vary according to (1) whether state actors operate at the state or local level, (2) whether they are elected officials or appointed administrators, and (3) whether they are women or men. In addition, the project contends that citizens who share political preferences and demographic traits with particular state actors will be more likely to trust their calls for behavioral change. To test these arguments, the project implements two related Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), focusing on two policy areas – health and education. The health portion explores the choice by lower-income citizens to sign up for health insurance, while the education portion looks at parent willingness to enroll girls in school. The RCTs comprise two waves of survey experiments delivered to a randomized selection of approximately 2,000 lower-income citizens. In the first wave, messages encouraging pro-developmental behavior in education and health – and randomized as coming from different types of state actors -- will be delivered in-person. The same messages will then be delivered over two months to respondent mobile devices, after which the second wave will measure whether respondents have indeed engaged in the recommended pro-developmental action. The findings will allow an assessment of whether, and under what conditions, state actors can influence citizens to adopt pro-developmental behaviors. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.