IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/scient/v127y2022i1d10.1007_s11192-021-04176-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of geographical bias when judging scientific studies

Author

Listed:
  • Marta Kowal

    (University of Wrocław)

  • Piotr Sorokowski

    (University of Wrocław)

  • Emanuel Kulczycki

    (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań)

  • Agnieszka Żelaźniewicz

    (University of Wrocław)

Abstract

The beauty of science lies within its core assumption that it seeks to identify the truth, and as such, the truth stands alone and does not depend on the person who proclaims it. However, people's proclivity to succumb to various stereotypes is well known, and the scientific world may not be exceptionally immune to the tendency to judge a book by its cover. An interesting example is geographical bias, which includes distorted judgments based on the geographical origin of, inter alia, the given work and not its actual quality or value. Here, we tested whether both laypersons (N = 1532) and scientists (N = 480) are prone to geographical bias when rating scientific projects in one of three scientific fields (i.e., biology, philosophy, or psychology). We found that all participants favored more biological projects from the USA than China; in particular, expert biologists were more willing to grant further funding to Americans. In philosophy, however, laypersons rated Chinese projects as better than projects from the USA. Our findings indicate that geographical biases affect public perception of research and influence the results of grant competitions.

Suggested Citation

  • Marta Kowal & Piotr Sorokowski & Emanuel Kulczycki & Agnieszka Żelaźniewicz, 2022. "The impact of geographical bias when judging scientific studies," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(1), pages 265-273, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:127:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-021-04176-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11192-021-04176-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11192-021-04176-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11192-021-04176-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Björn Ivens & Alexander Leischnig & Brigitte Muller & Katharina Valta, 2015. "On the role of brand stereotypes in shaping consumer response toward brands: an empirical examination of direct and mediating effects of warmth and competence," Post-Print hal-01427971, HAL.
    2. Björn Ivens & Brigitte Muller & Alexander Leischnig & Katharina Valta, 2015. "On the Role of Brand Stereotypes in Shaping Consumer Response toward Brands: An Empirical Examination of Direct and Mediating Effects of Warmth and Competence," Post-Print hal-01796284, HAL.
    3. Halkias, Georgios & Davvetas, Vasileios & Diamantopoulos, Adamantios, 2016. "The interplay between country stereotypes and perceived brand globalness/localness as drivers of brand preference," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3621-3628.
    4. C. Sean Burns & Charles W. Fox, 2017. "Language and socioeconomics predict geographic variation in peer review outcomes at an ecology journal," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(2), pages 1113-1127, November.
    5. Peter van den Besselaar & Ulf Sandström & Hélène Schiffbaenker, 2018. "Studying grant decision-making: a linguistic analysis of review reports," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 117(1), pages 313-329, October.
    6. David A. King, 2004. "The scientific impact of nations," Nature, Nature, vol. 430(6997), pages 311-316, July.
    7. Verlegh, Peeter W. J. & Steenkamp, Jan-Benedict E. M., 1999. "A review and meta-analysis of country-of-origin research," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 521-546, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Reggie Raju & Jill Claassen & Kaela De Lillie, 2023. "Social Justice: The Golden Thread in the Openness Movement," Publications, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-17, July.
    2. Guetz, Bernhard & Bidmon, Sonja, 2023. "The Credibility of Physician Rating Websites: A Systematic Literature Review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Halkias, Georgios & Diamantopoulos, Adamantios, 2020. "Universal dimensions of individuals' perception: Revisiting the operationalization of warmth and competence with a mixed-method approach," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 714-736.
    2. Kolbl, Živa & Diamantopoulos, Adamantios & Arslanagic-Kalajdzic, Maja & Zabkar, Vesna, 2020. "Do brand warmth and brand competence add value to consumers? A stereotyping perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 346-362.
    3. Kolbl, Živa & Arslanagic-Kalajdzic, Maja & Diamantopoulos, Adamantios, 2019. "Stereotyping global brands: Is warmth more important than competence?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 614-621.
    4. Zhang, Yicong & Guo, Xiaoling, 2023. "“New and old†: Consumer evaluations of co-branding between new brands and Chinese time-honored brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    5. Lee, Kuo-Wei & Li, Chia-Ying, 2023. "It is not merely a chat: Transforming chatbot affordances into dual identification and loyalty," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Seeber, Marco & Alon, Ilan & Pina, David G. & Piro, Fredrik Niclas & Seeber, Michele, 2022. "Predictors of applying for and winning an ERC Proof-of-Concept grant: An automated machine learning model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    7. Zhou, Zhimin & Ding, Yi & Feng, Wenting & Ke, Nianman, 2021. "Extending B2B brands into the B2C market: Whether, when, and how brands should emphasize B2B industry background," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 364-375.
    8. Chen Pang & Jie Zhou & Xiaofen Ji, 2022. "The Effects of Chinese Consumers’ Brand Green Stereotypes on Purchasing Intention toward Upcycled Clothing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-18, December.
    9. Zeugner-Roth, Katharina Petra & Bartsch, Fabian, 2020. "COO in print advertising: Developed versus developing market comparisons," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 364-378.
    10. Portal, Sivan & Abratt, Russell & Bendixen, Michael, 2018. "Building a human brand: Brand anthropomorphism unravelled," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 367-374.
    11. Timo Mandler & Fabian Bartsch & C. Min Han, 2021. "Brand credibility and marketplace globalization: The role of perceived brand globalness and localness," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(8), pages 1559-1590, October.
    12. Japutra, Arnold & Molinillo, Sebastian & Wang, Shasha, 2018. "Aesthetic or self-expressiveness? Linking brand logo benefits, brand stereotypes and relationship quality," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 191-200.
    13. Timo Mandler & Fabian Bartsch & C. Min Han, 0. "Brand credibility and marketplace globalization: The role of perceived brand globalness and localness," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-32.
    14. Monika Pröbster & Nicola Marsden, 2023. "The Social Perception of Autonomous Delivery Vehicles Based on the Stereotype Content Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-28, March.
    15. Viktoria Maria Radler, 2018. "20 Years of brand personality: a bibliometric review and research agenda," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 25(4), pages 370-383, July.
    16. Aiello, Gaetano & Donvito, Raffaele & Acuti, Diletta & Grazzini, Laura & Mazzoli, Valentina & Vannucci, Virginia & Viglia, Giampaolo, 2020. "Customers’ Willingness to Disclose Personal Information throughout the Customer Purchase Journey in Retailing: The Role of Perceived Warmth," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(4), pages 490-506.
    17. Adriana ZAIÅ¢ & Andreia Gabriela ANDREI & Ioana-Alexandra HORODNIC & Patricia Elena BERTEA, 2016. "Stereotyping Effects on Cities: Measurement Scales for City's Warmth and Competence," Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, College of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, vol. 4(2), pages 263-275, June.
    18. Sharma, Monika & Rahman, Zillur, 2022. "Anthropomorphic brand management: An integrated review and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 463-475.
    19. Leonidas C. Leonidou & Bilge Aykol & Saeed Samiee & Nikolaos Korfiatis, 2022. "A Meta-analysis of the Antecedents and Outcomes of Consumer Foreign Country Image Perceptions: The Moderating Role of Macro-level Country Differences," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 62(5), pages 741-784, October.
    20. Wei, Zihan & Zhang, Mingli & Qiao, Tong, 2022. "Effect of personal branding stereotypes on user engagement on short-video platforms," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:scient:v:127:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1007_s11192-021-04176-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.