People likely to safeguard common goods when they trust in leaders, have a sense of belonging

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 28 Jul 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for:
People likely to safeguard common goods when they trust in leaders, have a sense of belonging

Every day, people donate to charities, volunteer to clean up city parks, or scale back their driving to curb air pollution. But some take these public goods for granted and ride free on the efforts of others. They watch public television but never make a donation to fund it. Or they run their lawn sprinklers during a drought while their neighbors follow government pleas to limit water consumption.

A new report in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, examines more than 25 years' worth of studies on the use and support of public goods ranging from radio broadcasts to drinking water. Psychological researcher Craig Parks (Washington State University, Pullman) and his co-authors emphasize the urgent need to broaden thoughtful use of public goods, noting that charitable contributions are at historic lows, fossil fuel reserves are shrinking, and climate change threatens the planet's future.

In the report, the researchers discuss a variety of scientific findings on conditions that foster cooperative use of common resources, including:

Strong group identity

People are more likely to act cooperatively when they have a strong sense of belonging to a collective. A 2003 European study showed that fishermen who were strongly connected in their communities were more judicious with fishing stocks than were their counterparts in more loosely connected communities.

Smaller community size

Cooperation is likely to be stronger in smaller groups, particularly when one's contribution is easily identified. Psychological research suggests that cooperation decreases in large groups because people feel less influential, less identifiable, and less responsible for the group's welfare.

High trust in leaders

Citizens are more willing to help out in urgent situations when their government leaders act in transparent and trustworthy ways. A study of people's behavior during a 1991 water shortage in California showed that residents exercised more constraint on their water consumption if they felt local authorities were rationing water fairly.

The article also cites factors that lead to incongruous use of resources, including:

Intergroup conflicts

People often try to prevent those in an opposing group from benefiting from a good or resource in order to advance their own groups' interests. Parks and his co-authors cite as an example the 2011 debate in the U.S. Congress over the nation's debt ceiling. The Obama administration wanted to raise the debt ceiling to support such public goods as Social Security and the military. Republicans who fought the increase drew anger from many Americans, but in doing so helped enhance the GOP's reputation as a party of fiscal watchdogs.

Ideology/values

Individuals may withhold support for a public good that they see as useless or objectionable. Examples of this are environmentalists who fight a highway expansion, or political conservatives who reject public radio as too left-leaning.

Cognitive disconnection

Threats to some common resources are so vast or abstract that people struggle to comprehend the consequences. The most salient example is people's struggle to envision the impact that climate change will have on future generations.

Parks and his colleagues propose some policy steps that could promote better care of public resources. Research shows, for example, that people tend to act for the benefit of those who are powerless or helpless. Framing future generations in that light (e.g., talking about the more-hostile climate that we stand to leave for our great-grandchildren) can spark people today to be more diligent about reducing their carbon footprint, they suggest.

The researchers also argue that policymakers, in promoting optimal use of public goods, must concentrate on building the public's trust in order to garner cooperation.

"Sincere and concerted attempts to collect public input and a general 'let's work together' approach will do much to enhance group identity," they write. "Toleration of a certain amount of deviation from policy, at least in the early stages of implementation, will show that policy makers are forgiving. And last, a policy that gives citizens more than they might have expected - a more well-developed public good and broader access to it - will convey an image of generosity."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
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Co-authors on the article are Jeff Joireman of Washington State University, Pullman, and Paul A.M. Van Lange of Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

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What healthcare leaders can do to nurture innovation

Innovation is more than a shiny gadget. It is about identifying, developing and successfully exploiting new ideas. Photograph: CJ Burton/Corbis

To nurture innovation in healthcare, leaders must do less. This counter-intuitive advice draws on years of innovation research and the practices of the world's most innovative organisations, the ones that get 10 times more bang for buck on their innovation activities than the rest.

Innovation is more than a shiny gadget or an elegant new pathway. It is the organisation's process of identifying, developing and successfully exploiting new ideas, which is deceptively complex. I've worked with only 19 health providers and commissioners so far, yet I consistently see the same challenges which, if addressed, would lead to phenomenal leaps in innovation outcomes. Here are five top tips for leaders of health and care organisations:

Kill half your projects. A lack of clear focus leads ambitious people to try and do too much. Write an innovation plan to assert which quality, prevention, productivity and revenue objectives you wish to achieve, and then kill the projects that don't fit. It's likely that 20 to 50% will be stopped or paused, liberating resources and allowing you to fund the projects that align with your plan properly. This focus also helps to create a call to arms for your people and networks – a common goal around which they can all work.

Empower your people. The wisdom of your workforce is much greater than you might think. To harness this potential, your people need a licence to innovate. They need to know where to go when they have an idea and that, when they do, they'll be listened to and heard. The smart application of crowdsourcing tools and capability will engage and empower your staff quickly and cheaply. You'll be doing less of the work, but achieving much more.

Sack your 'blockers'. Close your eyes and ask yourself who the key person is that talks down all new ideas as soon as they are shared, and then sack them (or at least move them to one side). Almost every organisation has an influential character who consistently blocks innovation. Their voice is usually associated with responses such as: "That won't work here" and "The patients will never use that". Remove this person, and your people will be free to innovate.

Get disruptive. I first used internet banking in 2000. It seemed like a step backwards as it seemed to be doing less. But by starting small, choosing the right niches and proving the model, it has grown to transform the convenience, efficiency and security of consumer banking. Technology-enabled care models can drive the same transformation in health. New approaches can mature and eventually be good enough for a larger population.

Integrate patient experience and service improvement. You probably have a patient experience/public involvement/patient advice and liaison services team. They build genuine patient, family and public insight – deep data about the experiences and expectations of your service users. This data should be central to your service improvement and transformation efforts. I've sat in sessions with the likes of P&G and Nissan where there's an empty chair in the room representing the customer. What would our customer think of this meeting, this idea, this proposal? Their customer insight people answer these questions and, in doing so, create a laser-sharp focus for service improvement. Are you genuinely patient centred? You've probably captured the insight, now it's time to use it.

Dr Peter Thomond is co-founder and managing director of Clever Together, an organisation that helps leaders empower people using crowdsourcing

This article is published by Guardian Professional. Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to receive regular emails and exclusive offers.

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