According to the gunman theory many revolutions do not take place, in spite of the fact that the majority stands to gain if they can put an end to the oppression exercised over it, since a gunman can see to it that egoistic individuals have no incentive to take part in the revolution. Champions of the idea that there is a paradox of revolution go further: Even if individuals care about the common good, they will not take action. This is wrong. If they care about the common good revolution will take place. This is good news. The bad news is, however, that those conditions, as we find them in social psychological literature, that are helpful to the revolutionary cause tend to get undermined by the oppressive system when it is well functioning.

Abstract The role of marketing in social issues has grown over the last thirty years since Kotler himself introduced the concept (Kotler & Zaltman, 1971). In the evolution of social marketing it has moved from being entirely marketing process orientated towards expanding its vision to other useful theories from the subject’s parent disciplines. Social dilemma theory, one such theory, evolved in the laboratories, computer programmes and field experiments of psychologists and economists. In 1991 marketers proposed the theory as an aid to understanding individual action in collective problems. The current study assesses the relevance of social dilemma theory for the marketing of water conservation behaviours in an emerging market. As such, it seeks to establish if the key variables were present and what, if any, impact large cultural forces, such as individualism and collectivism have on individual conserving behaviour. Individualism and collectivism were studied at the personal level of idiocentrism and allocentrism and along the sub-dimensions of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism. The interactions of these values on individual behaviour were studied, together with two key variables in social dilemma theory namely, perceived consumer effectiveness (PCE) and faith in others (FIO). Individual perceptions of resource abundance and attitudes towards non-marketing solutions, such as a sanctioning system, were investigated. The study was conducted among 444 teenage learners at secondary schools in Gauteng. A descriptive research design was used. The study found that there was an interaction between social dilemma variables and individualism/collectivism which did have an impact on individual conserving behaviour. Most, but not all relationships were verified. Collectivists required higher levels of perceived consumer effectiveness in order to engage in conservation actions, while individualists needed a greater sense of the co-operation of others. Faith in others and individualism/collectivism emerged as having a direct impact on consumer behaviour, while perceived consumer effectiveness was a moderator of the other variables and had no main, direct, effect on behaviour. Water was thought of as an abundant resource and in little need of conservation. Low income consumers favoured a sanctioning system to enforce compliance. The implications of the study for marketing theory and practice are discussed. -

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The COVID-19 pandemic presents threats, such as severe disease and economic hardship, to people of different ages. These threats can also be experienced asymmetrically across age groups, which could lead to generational differences in behavioral responses to reduce the spread of the disease. We report a survey conducted across 56 societies (N = 58,641), and tested pre-registered hypotheses about how age relates to (a) perceived personal costs during the pandemic, (b) prosocial COVID-19 responses (e.g., social distancing), and (c) support for behavioral regulations (e.g., mandatory quarantine, vaccination). We further tested whether the relation between age and prosocial COVID-19 responses can be explained by perceived personal costs during the pandemic. Overall, we found that older people perceived more costs of contracting the virus, but less costs in daily life due to the pandemic. However, age displayed no clear, robust associations with prosocial COVID-19 responses and support for behavioral regulations. We discuss the implications of this work for understanding the potential intergenerational conflicts of interest that could occur during the COVID-19 pandemic. / New York University Abu Dhabi

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Using vignette experiments, this thesis examines individuals’ decision-making in various social dilemmas. A case study of littering behavior amongst university students in Lao People's Democratic Republic is used to investigate whether individual preferences are stable across littering dilemmas and other social dilemmas. This study further investigates if a visual prompt can encourage prosocial behavior in littering situations. The results show that behavior in social dilemmas is dependent on individual preferences. Additionally, the study finds little evidence that visual prompts could be used in order to efficiently decrease littering in Laos. However, a negative relationship is found between littering behavior and knowledge regarding the consequences of littering. These findings indicate that policy makers could use knowledge increasing campaigns in order to increase prosocial decision making regarding littering. Yet, further studies are needed in order to validate the results. Lastly, we also find differences in what influence littering behavior, depending on the item being littered.

Cooperation in joint enterprises poses a social dilemma. How can altruistic behavior be sustained if selfish alternatives provide a higher payoff? This social dilemma can be overcome by the threat of sanctions. But a sanctioning system is itself a public good and poses a second-order social dilemma. In this paper, we show by means of deterministic and stochastic evolutionary game theory that imitation-driven evolution can lead to the emergence of cooperation based on punishment, provided the participation in the joint enterprise is not compulsory. This surprising result - cooperation can be enforced if participation is voluntary - holds even in the case of 'strong altruism', when the benefits of a player's contribution are reaped by the other participants only. (authors' abstract)

Aujourd’hui, les consommateurs sont sans cesse sollicités à consommer de manière responsable… en achetant des produits respectueux de l’environnement ou issus du commerce équitable. Depuis quelques temps maintenant, il leur est demandé de privilégier les produits made in France pour soutenir économiquement les fabricants français et plus globalement la santé économique du pays. Mais ces consommateurs français se sentent-ils responsables et engagés envers la santé économique de leur pays ? Et si oui, cela a –t-il une influence sur la formation de leurs préférences pour un produit industriel « made in France » ? En effet, malgré les sondages qui affirment qu’ils sont prêts à payer plus cher pour un produit domestique, l’écart existant entre leurs intentions et leurs comportements ne fait aucun doute. L’objet de cette thèse sera tout d’abord de conceptualiser ce qu’est la responsabilité et l’engagement économique du consommateur. Elle visera ensuite à identifier le rôle de ces concepts sur la formation de préférences des consommateurs pour ces produits « made in France ». Pour cela, après une étude qualitative exploratoire, une expérimentation in vivo est mise en place auprès d’un échantillon représentatif de 596 répondants. Considérant que la dimension économique ne doit pas être déconnectée des autres préoccupations sociétales des consommateurs (environnementales et sociales), nous analysons également l’influence parallèle de ces préoccupations sur l’utilité accordée par le consommateur à l’origine domestique du produit. Enfin, le rapport qu’entretient le consommateur avec son territoire est lui aussi étudié, en cherchant à comprendre son influence sur la décision du consommateur à s’engager pour la santé économique de son pays. / Consumers today are constantly asked to consume responsibly ... buying products environmentally friendly or fair trade. For some time now, we even asked to favor products made in France to economically support the French manufacturers and, more generally, the country's economic health. But do consumers feel responsible and committed to the economic health of their country? If so, what is the influence on the formation of their preference for an industrial product "made in France"? Indeed despite the various surveys that say, they are willing to pay more for a domestic product, the largest gap between their intentions and actual behavior is no doubt. The purpose of this thesis will be, first, to conceptualize the consumer economic responsibility and engagement. This research also aims to identify the role of these concepts on the formation of consumer preferences for these products. For this, after an exploratory qualitative study, in vivo experiment is set up with a representative sample of 596 respondents. This research then will highlight the impact of the various components of economic responsibility of consumers (ERC) on their economic engagement, and, be joined, also, to identify the role of this commitment on the formation of preferences. But the economic dimension should not be disconnected from other societal concerns of consumers (environmental and social). We therefore analyze, too, the influence of these parallel concerns about the utility provided by the consumer to the domestic origin. Finally, the relation that the consumer with its territory will also be scrutinized, seeking to understand its role in the consumer's decision to commit to the economic health of the country.

Intergovernmental cooperation on collective action problems and social dilemmas faces significant challenges, as difficulties often stem from conflicts between national self-interests and collective long-term goals, lack of trust, and uncertainty about other states' commitments. Transboundary environmental issues demonstrate a clear example of collective action problems and social dilemmas, in which the Baltic Sea and HELCOM constitute such a case.  The Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted seas in the world, which in turn has placed demands on the surrounding countries to address and rectify these issues through the establishment of an intergovernmental organization, in the shape of HELCOM. HELCOM is therefore the responsible body tasked with tackling this, through policymaking and cooperation within the Baltic Sea region. Despite efforts made in the area, HELCOM has not succeeded in achieving its many goals, making HELCOM an interesting case to study. This thesis aims to research how the key institutions of HELCOM are designed, and how they influence its governance and decision-making processes using the IAD framework, and to investigate how institutional design shapes collective action outcomes. These questions aim to contribute to the study's purpose, which is to analyze institutional choices within intergovernmental collaborations and to examine the relationship between institutional design and collective action. The thesis is conducted using qualitative text analysis, specifically applying qualitative content analysis to answer the study's research questions. The empirical data consists of official HELCOM documents, which form the basis for the results presented in this study.  The study's results show that HELCOM, like other intergovernmental organizations, can be explained and understood through the IAD framework. Based on this investigation, the IAD framework could highlight that HELCOM's key institutions are designed similar, even though their area of competence differentiates. Furthermore, the study's results indicate that the design of different rules within an organization has a significant impact on the outputs of actions characterized by collective action, as it turned out that the results of various measures within HELCOM's institutional arrangements varied between different working groups. Thus, there may be incentives and benefits in designing the institutional arrangements of intergovernmental organizations in different ways, to achieve a more effective approach to combating collective action problems.

O presente trabalho compreende o estudo de campanhas de comunicação de racionamento de água e luz elétrica pela ótica dos conceitos de dilema social e comunicação de riscos. Para tal, revisamos a bibliografia desses temas e elaboramos uma proposta de análise de conteúdo temática que busca identificar valores e normas sociais desses conceitos nas campanhas publicitárias de dois casos brasileiros escolhidos. / This dissertation involves the study of communication campaigns of water and electrical energy in rationing situations by using concepts of social dilemmas and risk communication. In order to achieve these results, we have reviewed the literature of these subjects, and we have proposed a model of content thematic analysis to identify values and norms of these two concepts on social campaigns of two Brazilian cases.