Ingredients of institutional reputations and citizen engagement with regulators |
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| Authors: | Tereza Capelos Colin Provost Maria Parouti Julie Barnett Jonathan Chenoweth Chris Fife‐Schaw Tanika Kelay |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK;2. Department of Political Science, University College London, London, UK;3. Laws – LLB, University of London, London, UK;4. Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK;5. Centre for Environmental Strategy, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK;6. Department of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK;7. Department of Surgery & Cancer, Imperial College London, London, UK |
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| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to examine the link between the reputational components of efficacy and moral reliability of institutions, and citizens' compliance with institutional recommendations. Research on bureaucratic reputations highlights the significance of positive political reputations based on credibility and legitimacy, but the impact of these components is not systematically isolated and studied. We draw insights from political psychology to move beyond a positive‐negative valence‐based approach of reputation, and highlight the different effect of efficacy and moral reliability components of reputation on citizens' cooperation, engagement in water saving activities, and levels of complaints. We use the Cypriot Water Authority as a case study and inquire how its institutional reputation influences Cypriot citizens' behavior regarding water use. Our data was collected via a representative national survey administered to a random sample of 800 Cypriots in the spring of 2009 and show that favorable perceptions of particular components of institutional reputation shape the levels of satisfaction with specific organizational outputs. |
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| Keywords: | compliance efficacy institutional reputation moral reliability water authority |
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