Correcting Inaccurate Perceptions about Material Consequences of Unionization

• In Event: Economic Attitudes and Public Opinion

Abstract

Why do workers not take more action to improve their working conditions in the face of rising inequality? Focusing on unionization, we argue that misperceptions about the benefits and costs of unionization prevent workers from taking action. In a representative study, we show that there are many Americans who have misperceptions about the material consequences of unionization and that there is a relationship between holding misperceptions and support for unions. Using a survey experiment, we correct workers’ misperceptions about the costs and benefits of unions and test whether doing so increases support for unionization. The results indicate that correcting misperceptions leads to a large increase in support for unions. We find that these effects run through a direct and indirect mechanism. First, voters update their priors about what unions could do for them and therefore support them more. Second, voters update their priors about the capabilities they and others like them have to improve their own working conditions (political efficacy), leading to increased support. Our study helps us understand aggregate support for unions in advanced democracies.

Author

• Jonne Kamphorst, Stanford University