CONCERNS ABOUT THE PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC-GOODS - A SOCIAL DILEMMA ANALYSIS

This study advanced a social dilemma analysis to examine the role of s elf-interested and prosocial concerns in the approval of a real-life s tructural solution: the privatization of the the British national rail way system in 1996. As predicted, disapproval of privatizing this publ ic good increased when people were more concerned about the transition costs of privatization, and about how privatization would affect thei r personal outcomes (e. g., travel convenience) and the outcomes for t he collective (e.g., railway accessibility). Moreover the approval of privatization among people guided primarily by their self-interest (i. e., pro-self individuals) was influenced more strongly by personal out come concerns. Contrary to hypothesis, however prosocial individuals: approval of privatization was not influenced more strongly by collecti ve outcome concerns. Finally, people who disapproved of privatization also exhibited a weaker intention to travel by train in the future, an indication that the willingness to engage in collectively desirable b ehavior may decrease when people fail to endorse a structural solution .