OP-ED: The perception of people in the form of risks where companies choose to locate, suggest new research. Interestingly, conservatives and liberals see the risk very differently.
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This story was initially published by The conversation.
To attract commercial investments, cities and American states Offer companies billions of dollars in incentiveslike tax credits. As theory says, when governments create a user -friendly environment, it encourages investments, leading to job creation and economic growth.
Although this theory may seem logical on his face, it is a bit of a situation of chicken and egg. Commercial investment follows the employeesNot just the other way around. Actually, Our research suggests that workers care less if a city has policies adapted to businesses and more about the security of their lives. And interesting, we have found that policy influences people’s risk perceptions than difficult data such as crime statistics.
Our results have major implications for cities and businesses. If people choose where to live and work according to the security perceived rather than economic incentives, then entrepreneurs and city leaders may need to rethink the way they approach growth and investment.
Many risk faces
We are management teachers Who questioned more than 500 employees and entrepreneurs from across the country to better understand how they assess 25 major American cities on different dimensions of risk.
We have asked questions on three different types of risks: the risk linked to crime, government function and social problems. The risk of government function includes corruption and instability, while the risk linked to social problems includes potential offenses on individual rights.
We found that people’s opinions on risk were not mainly motivated by objective statistics, such as FBI crime data. Instead, they were shaped by factors such as media representations, word of mouth and geographic stereotypes.
For example, studies suggest this crime in Denver increasedand Us News and World Reports recently ranked it as the 10th most dangerous city Based on FBI crime reports. However, the employees and entrepreneurs we interviewed classified Denver as the country’s safest city.
Everything is political
We found that political prospects were the main factor, the classification. For example, conservative employees and entrepreneurs have believed that Portland, Oregon, is dangerous, the class as the most risk of American. On the other hand, those who are liberals classified it as the city of the second sound of the country.
These two beliefs cannot be accurate. Instead, when the FBI objective crime is the basis of the objective data classification, US News ranked Portland the most dangerous city in the country.
During the assessment of the risks linked to the functioning of the government, the Conservatives congratulated the politicians in Nashville, Charlotte and Dallas, while the Liberals praised those of Denver, Minneapolis and Portland. Likewise, when we consider the risks linked to social problems, the conservatives said that New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco were “risky”, while the Liberals said that Tampa, Miami and Houston should be avoided.
Our results also suggest that political prospects influence the types of risks that employers and employees care. For example, conservatives tend to worry more about the risk of crime than liberals, and liberals care more about the risk of social problems.
Now what?
We do not recommend that city leaders completely abandon financial incentives or that employers ignore them. The evidence suggests that financial incentives and others Policies adapted to companies can be effective to attract companies and strengthen local savings.
However, our research suggests that when individuals make important life decisions about the place, working, working and investing, the level of risk of a city is important. Above all, beliefs on risk are subjective and are biased by political perspectives.
In our opinion, city leaders must recognize and respond to concerns about crime, governance and social issues while actively working to improve public perceptions in their cities. Likewise, companies may want to consider investing in less politically polarized cities when making investment decisions.
Kaitlyn Deghetto is an associate professor of management at Dayton University. Zachary A. Russell is an associate professor of management at Xavier University.