RT Journal Article
T1 Attributing responsibility in devolved contexts. Experimental evidence from the UK
A1 León Alfonso, Sandra
A1 Orriols Galve, Lluis
AB In devolved contexts, people may get it wrong in their responsibility assignments because they are unsure about who does what or because they filter their attributions of credit and blame through their political lenses. This paper theorises about these two mechanisms and tests the role of cognitive bias in moderating responsibility judgements in multilevel systems. Using a survey experiment on responsibility attribution for the NHS outcomes in Scotland and Wales, results show that partisanship is the strongest bias of responsibility assignments between regional and central authorities. Yet national identity also operates as cognitive bias, a role that so far has been theoretically and empirically overlooked in the literature. The empirical findings point to the role of partisanship and identity as cognitive guides to make responsibility judgements in complex institutional setting, such as the one that emerges from increasing devolution in the United Kingdom.
PB Elsevier
SN 0261-3794
YR 2019
FD 2019-01-11
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10016/34953
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10016/34953
LA eng
NO We wish to acknowledge the financial support of the Department of Politics at the University of York through the internal priming funding scheme as well as of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiviness (Project CSO2017-82881-R).
DS e-Archivo
RD 27 jul. 2024