“More” or “enough”? Rural-urban differences in maximizing: The case of India
The present study aims to understand rural-urban differences in India as determined by market regimes, as well as by cultural and prosperity factors. The study focuses on people's maximizing as opposed to satisficing decision preferences. Maximizing stands for people's preference to contin...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666622723000539 |
| _version_ | 1797391798865231872 |
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| author | Ajita Srivastava Ulrich Kühnen Dora Simunovic Klaus Boehnke |
| author_facet | Ajita Srivastava Ulrich Kühnen Dora Simunovic Klaus Boehnke |
| author_sort | Ajita Srivastava |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The present study aims to understand rural-urban differences in India as determined by market regimes, as well as by cultural and prosperity factors. The study focuses on people's maximizing as opposed to satisficing decision preferences. Maximizing stands for people's preference to continuously strive for better options, whereas satisficing means choosing a ‘good enough’ option. It was predicted that corporate employees in an urban metropolitan region would maximize more than the rural farmers due to socio-cultural and economic factors being more market-conducive in the urban region. Individualism-collectivism, achievement motivation, neoliberalism, as well as various classical socioeconomic indicators were taken into account as cultural and economic factors. The study was conducted utilizing field surveys in two Hindi-speaking rural and urban regions in Northern India by using established scales translated to Hindi. Middle-income farmers were recruited in the rural region, while corporate employees were recruited in the urban region. Overall, data were collected for 417 participants in both regions (rural, n = 195/urban, n = 222). Results show that urban participants maximize significantly more than the rural participants. This difference was fully mediated by stronger neoliberal beliefs in the urban region. Higher maximizing tendencies in the metropolitan region can be attributed to more competitive neoliberal–capitalist–market orientation rooted in urban rather than rural India. The findings contribute to the understanding of ecological differences in terms of culture and economy and their effects on people's decision making, especially in low and middle-income countries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T23:37:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-945a17abe0094de196e039a275459a36 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2666-6227 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T23:37:55Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-945a17abe0094de196e039a275459a362023-12-14T05:23:56ZengElsevierCurrent Research in Ecological and Social Psychology2666-62272023-01-015100140“More” or “enough”? Rural-urban differences in maximizing: The case of IndiaAjita Srivastava0Ulrich Kühnen1Dora Simunovic2Klaus Boehnke3Corresponding author at: Constructor University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, South Hall, Room 307, Bremen 28759, Germany.; Bremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), Constructor University, Bremen, GermanyBremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), Constructor University, Bremen, GermanyBremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), Constructor University, Bremen, GermanyBremen International Graduate School of Social Sciences (BIGSSS), Constructor University, Bremen, GermanyThe present study aims to understand rural-urban differences in India as determined by market regimes, as well as by cultural and prosperity factors. The study focuses on people's maximizing as opposed to satisficing decision preferences. Maximizing stands for people's preference to continuously strive for better options, whereas satisficing means choosing a ‘good enough’ option. It was predicted that corporate employees in an urban metropolitan region would maximize more than the rural farmers due to socio-cultural and economic factors being more market-conducive in the urban region. Individualism-collectivism, achievement motivation, neoliberalism, as well as various classical socioeconomic indicators were taken into account as cultural and economic factors. The study was conducted utilizing field surveys in two Hindi-speaking rural and urban regions in Northern India by using established scales translated to Hindi. Middle-income farmers were recruited in the rural region, while corporate employees were recruited in the urban region. Overall, data were collected for 417 participants in both regions (rural, n = 195/urban, n = 222). Results show that urban participants maximize significantly more than the rural participants. This difference was fully mediated by stronger neoliberal beliefs in the urban region. Higher maximizing tendencies in the metropolitan region can be attributed to more competitive neoliberal–capitalist–market orientation rooted in urban rather than rural India. The findings contribute to the understanding of ecological differences in terms of culture and economy and their effects on people's decision making, especially in low and middle-income countries.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666622723000539MaximizingSatisficingNeoliberalismDeveloping countryRuralUrban |
| spellingShingle | Ajita Srivastava Ulrich Kühnen Dora Simunovic Klaus Boehnke “More” or “enough”? Rural-urban differences in maximizing: The case of India Current Research in Ecological and Social Psychology Maximizing Satisficing Neoliberalism Developing country Rural Urban |
| title | “More” or “enough”? Rural-urban differences in maximizing: The case of India |
| title_full | “More” or “enough”? Rural-urban differences in maximizing: The case of India |
| title_fullStr | “More” or “enough”? Rural-urban differences in maximizing: The case of India |
| title_full_unstemmed | “More” or “enough”? Rural-urban differences in maximizing: The case of India |
| title_short | “More” or “enough”? Rural-urban differences in maximizing: The case of India |
| title_sort | more or enough rural urban differences in maximizing the case of india |
| topic | Maximizing Satisficing Neoliberalism Developing country Rural Urban |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666622723000539 |
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