Katie E. Corcoran

The context of control: A cross‐national investigation of the link between political institutions, efficacy, and collective action

Most research on efficacy and participation in collective action has focused on single country samples with little attention paid to the relationship between efficacy and country-level structural factors. Drawing on value expectancy theory, we theorize a link between macro-level political institutions and micro-level efficacy. To address the previous limitations in the efficacy and collective action literature, we use multi-level, cross-national data, and present results from a series of hierarchical models testing whether efficacy increases collective action cross-nationally, whether political institutions affect efficacy, and whether the effect of efficacy on collective action is conditional on political institutions. We find that efficacy increases collective action, that certain political institutions increase efficacy, and that the effect of efficacy on collective action is partly conditional on the inclusiveness of a countrys political institutions. These findings suggest the insufficiency of purely structural as well as social psychological explanations of collective action.

Religious human capital revisited: Testing the effect of religious human capital on religious participation

The religious economies theory proposes that individuals make religious choices like they make other choices—rationally. This assumption has sparked many theoretical propositions on both the macro- and micro-levels. However, most empirical research has focused on testing the macro-level propositions. This study contributes to addressing this gap by testing the micro-level hypothesis that religious human capital (i.e., religious knowledge and skills) increases religious participation. Previous research typically operationalized religious human capital indirectly through proxy measures, which makes it difficult to separate the effect of religious human capital from the effects of other variables such as religious beliefs, preferences, and religious social capital. As a result, findings from previous studies may support theories other than religious human capital theory. This paper separates different causal effects by using a direct measure of religious human capital (i.e., biblical knowledge), while controlling for other variables deemed important by the literature. Analysis of longitudinal panel studies generally supports the hypothesis.

Religious Tradition and Workplace Religious Discrimination: The Moderating Effects of Regional Context

A nascent but growing literature on religious discrimination in U.S. workplaces has shown that some religious identities, especially non-Christian and nonreligious identities, are more likely to experience and/or perceive such discrimination. While Christianity might represent the majority of the U.S. population, the religious composition of the United States is not monolithic. Regional differences in religious demography and culture could shape the discrimination experiences of individuals belonging to particular religious traditions. This research examines this question using data from a nationally representative survey that asked respondents how often they have experienced religious discrimination in their place of work. We find that atheists are more likely to perceive discrimination in the South than in the West and Northeast. Non-Christians are more likely to perceive discrimination in the South and Northeast than in the West. Finally, evangelical Protestants are more likely to perceive discrimination in the West than in the South.