Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T20:17:53.917Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Self-Efficacy and Citizen Engagement in Development: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2021

Evan Lieberman Open the ORCID record for Evan Lieberman [Opens in a new window]  and
Yang-Yang Zhou Open the ORCID record for Yang-Yang Zhou [Opens in a new window]
Evan Lieberman
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 30 Wadsworth Street, E53-409, Cambridge, MA02142, USA, Twitter: @evlieb, Website: evanlieberman.org
Yang-Yang Zhou*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of British Columbia, 323 C.K. Choi Building 1855 West Mall, Vancouver, BC, CanadaV6T 1Z2, Twitter: @yangyang_zhou, Website: yangyangzhou.com
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent studies of efforts to increase citizen engagement in local governance through information campaigns report mixed results. We consider whether low levels of self-efficacy beliefs limit engagement, especially among poor citizens in poor countries. Citizens may be caught in an “efficacy trap” which limits their realization of better public goods provision. We describe results from a series of experimental studies conducted with over 2,200 citizens in rural Tanzania, in which we compare the effects of standard information campaigns with Validated Participation (VP), an intervention designed to socially validate citizens’ participation. We implement a staged approach to experimental research, seeking to balance ethical and cost concerns about field experimentation. In our main analyses, we find that VP did not lead to increased levels of self-efficacy or more active citizen behaviors relative to standard informational treatments. Nonetheless, we find some promising evidence for VP in a follow-up qualitative study with teachers. We conclude by discussing lessons from this research and directions for future investigation of the possible role of self-efficacy traps in development.

Keywords

Self-efficacydevelopmenteducationexperimentTanzania
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Experimental Political Science , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , Spring 2022 , pp. 46 - 63
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Experimental Research Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

The data, code, and any additional materials required to replicate all analyses in this article are available at the Journal of Experimental Political Science Dataverse within the Harvard Dataverse Network, at: doi:10.7910/DVN/SLYEUJ (Zhou and Lieberman 2020). Our pre-analysis plans can be found at osf.io/jqzxp for Study 1 and osf.io/9xmjg for Study 2. This research received institutional review board (IRB) approval from MIT COUHES (#1603517857R001). We report no conflicts of interest. All errors and omissions are ours.

Authors contributed equally. Author order is randomized using randomizeauthor.shinyapps.io/shiny.

References

Abramson, Paul R. and Aldrich, John H.. 1982. The Decline of Electoral Participation in America. American Political Science Review 76(3): 502–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrabi, Tahir, Das, Jishnu and Khwaja, Asim Ijaz. 2017. Report Cards: The Impact of Providing School and Child Test Scores on Educational Markets. American Economic Review 107(6): 1535–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arkedis, Jean, Creighton, Jessica, Dixit, Akshay, Fung, Archon, Kosack, Stephen and Levy, Dan. 2019. Can Transparency and Accountability Programs Improve Health? Experimental Evidence from Indonesia and Tanzania.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandura, Albert. 1977. Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change. Psychological Review 84(2): 191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandura, Albert and Ramachaudran, V. S. 1994. Self-Efficacy. Encyclopedia of human behavior. ed. V. S. Ramachaudran.Google Scholar
Banerjee, Abhijit V., Banerji, Rukmini, Duflo, Esther, Glennerster, Rachel and Khemani, Stuti. 2010. Pitfalls of Participatory Programs: Evidence from a randomized evaluation in education in India. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 2: 1–30.Google Scholar
Bebbington, Anthony. 1999. Capitals and Capabilities: A Framework for Analyzing Peasant Viability, Rural Livelihoods and Poverty. World Development 27(12): 2021–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berlinski, Samuel, Busso, Matias, Dinkelman, Taryn and Martinez, Claudia. 2016. Reducing Parent-School Information Gaps and Improving Education Outcomes: Evidence from High Frequency Text Messaging in Chile. Unpublished Manuscript.Google Scholar
Bjorkman, Martina. 2007. Does Money Matter for Student Performance? Evidence from a Grant Program in Uganda. Manuscript. Stockholm, Sweden: Institute for International Economic Studies (IIES), Stockholm University.Google Scholar
Boardman, Jason D. and Robert, Stephanie A.. 2000. Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and Perceptions of Self-Efficacy. Sociological Perspectives 43(1): 117–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brady, Henry E., Verba, Sidney and Schlozman, Kay Lehman. 1995. Beyond SES: A Resource Model of Political Participation. American Political Science Review 89(2): 271–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruns, Barbara, Filmer, Deon and Patrinos, Harry Anthony. 2011. Making Schools Work: New Evidence on Accountability Reforms. World Bank Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buntaine, Mark T., Daniels, Brigham and Devlin, Colleen. 2017. Can Information Outreach Increase Participation in Comunity-Driven Development? A Field Experiment Near Bwindi National Park, Uganda. World Development 106: 407–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caprara, Gian Vittorio, Vecchione, Michele, Capanna, Cristina and Mebane, Minou. 2009. Perceived Political Self-Efficacy: Theory, Assessment, and Applications. European Journal of Social Psychology 39(6): 1002–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chong, Alberto, De La O, Ana L., Karlan, Dean and Wantchekon, Leonard. 2014. Does Corruption Information Inspire the Fight or Quash the Hope? A Field Experiment in Mexico on Voter Turnout, Choice, and Party Identification. The Journal of Politics 77(1): 55–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, Stephen C. and Maggiotto, Michael A.. 1982. Measuring Political Efficacy. Political Methodology 85–109.Google Scholar
Fung, Archon. 2006. Varieties of Participation in Complex Governance. Public Administration Review 66(s1): 66–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fung, Archon and Wright, Erik Olin. 2001. Deepening Democracy: Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance. Politics and Society 29(1): 5–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gecas, Viktor and Seff, Monica A.. 1989. Social Class, Occupational Conditions, and Self-Esteem. Sociological Perspectives 32(3): 353–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gottlieb, Jessica. 2015. Greater Expectations: A Field Experiment to Improve Accountability in Mali. American Journal of Political Science 143–57.Google Scholar
Grossman, Guy, Michelitch, Kristin and Santamaria, Marta. 2017. Texting Complaints to Politicians: Name Personalization and Politicians? Encouragement in Citizen Mobilization. Comparative Political Studies 50(10): 1325–1357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, Michael and Demo, David H.. 1989. Self-Perceptions of Black Americans: Self-Esteem and Personal Efficacy. American Journal of Sociology 95(1): 132–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jerusalem, Matthias and Schwarzer, Ralf. 1995. Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale. Measures in Health Psychology: A User’s Portfolio. Causal and Control Beliefs 35–37.Google Scholar
Joshi, Anuradha. 2013. Do they Work? Assessing the Impact of Transparency and Accountability Initiatives in Service Delivery. Development Policy Review 31(s1): s29–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keefer, Philip and Khemani, Stuti. 2011. Mass media and public services: the effects of radio access on public education in Benin. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper (5559).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Khemani, Stuti, Dal Bo, Ernesto, Ferraz, Claudio, Finan, Frederico Shimizu, Stephenson Johnson, Corinne Louise, Odugbemi, Adesinaola Michael, Thapa, Dikshya, Abrahams, Scott David. 2016. Making Politics Work for Development: Harnessing Transparency and Citizen Engagement. Washington DC: World Bank Group.Google Scholar
Lieberman, Evan S., Posner, Daniel N. and Tsai, Lily L.. 2014. Does Information Lead to More Active Citizenship? Evidence from an Education Intervention in Rural Kenya. World Development 60: 69–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, Winston. 2013. Agnostic Notes on Regression Adjustments to Experimental Data: Reexamining Freedman’s Critique. The Annals of Applied Statistics 7(1): 295–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masue, Orest Sebastian. 2014. Empowerment of School Committees and Parents in Tanzania: Delineating Existence of Opportunity, its use and Impact on School Decisions.Google Scholar
Masue, Orest Sebastian and Askvik, Steinar. 2017. Are School Committees a Source of Empowerment? Insights from Tanzania. International Journal of Public Administration 40(9): 780–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mbiti, Isaac, Muralidharan, Karthik, Romero, Mauricio, Schipper, Youdi, Manda, Constantine and Rajani, Rakesh. 2019. Inputs, Incentives, and Complementarities in Education: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 134(3): 1627–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mizala, Alejandra and Urquiola, Miguel. 2013. School Markets: The Impact of Information Approximating Schools’ Effectiveness. Journal of Development Economics 103: 313–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olken, Benjamin A. 2007. Monitoring Corruption: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Indonesia. Journal of Political Economy 115(2): 200–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor. 1996. Crossing the Great Divide: Coproduction, Synergy, and Development. World Development 24(6): 1073–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, Robert, Wedgwood, Ruth, Hayman, Rachel and Edinburgh Centre of African Studies. 2007. Educating Out of Poverty?: A Synthesis Report on Ghana, India, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa. Edinburgh, UK: DFID.Google Scholar
Reinikka, Ritva and Svensson, Jakob. 2004. The Power of Information: Evidence from a Newspaper Campaign to Reduce Capture. Vol. 3239. Washington DC: World Bank Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reinikka, Ritva and Svensson, Jakob. 2005. Fighting Corruption to Improve Schooling: Evidence from a Newspaper Campaign in Uganda. Journal of the European Economic Association 3: 259–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudolph, Thomas J., Gangl, Amy and Stevens, Dan. 2000. The Effects of Efficacy and Emotions on Campaign Involvement. The Journal of Politics 62(4): 1189–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Ronald E. 1989. Effects of Coping Skills Training on Generalized Self-Efficacy and Locus of Control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 56(2): 228.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Solhaug, Trond. 2006. Knowledge and Self-Efficacy as Predictors of Political Participation and Civic Attitudes: With Relevance for Educational Practice. Policy Futures in Education 4(3): 265–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanzania Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. 2013. School Improvement Toolkit: Practical Guide for Head teachers and Heads of School.Google Scholar
Twaweza. 2016. Sauti za Wananchi: Reality Check Citizens? Views on Education in a Fee Free era. Technical Report Twaweza East Africa.Google Scholar
Twaweza. 2017. Are Our Children Learning? Literacy and Numeracy in Tanzania 2017. Technical Report Twaweza East Africa.Google Scholar
Valente, Christine. 2015. Primary Education Expansion and Quality of Schooling: Evidence from Tanzania.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valentino, Nicholas A., Gregorowicz, Krysha and Groenendyk, Eric W.. 2009. Efficacy, Emotions and the Habit of Participation. Political Behavior 31(3): 307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wedgwood, Ruth. 2007. Education and Poverty Reduction in Tanzania. International Journal of Educational Development 27(4): 383–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolcock, Michael and Narayan, Deepa. 2000. Social Capital: Implications for Development Theory, Research, and Policy. The World Bank Research Observer 15(2): 225–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Bank. 2003. World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. Technical Report. Retrieved from https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/5986 Google Scholar
World Bank. 2017. World Bank Open Data. Technical Report. Retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org Google Scholar
Young, Lauren E. 2019. Who Dissents? Self-Efficacy and Opposition Action after State-Sponsored Election Violence.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, Yang-Yang and Lieberman, Evan. 2020. Replication Data for: Self-Efficacy and Citizen Engagement in Development: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/SLYEUJ CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Lieberman and Zhou supplementary material

Lieberman and Zhou supplementary material

Download Lieberman and Zhou supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 6.3 MB
Supplementary material: Link

Lieberman and Zhou Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/SLYEUJ
Link