Understanding citizens' attitudes towards digital markets

了解公民对数字市场的态度

• 批准号: 2741217
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: King's College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2741217
• 关键词: Understanding; citizens; attitudes; towards; digital

Digital markets create many opportunities for states,economies, and societies. Yet, like other markets, they donot always produce the most efficient and morallydesirable outcomes. Besides raising questions of privacyand data protection, digital markets have generatedcompetition concerns about abuse of dominance, marketentry, and consumer choice. Legislators and regulatorsworldwide are seeking regulatory policies to address theseissues. Yet, whilst policymakers can - in the process ofdeveloping 'pro-competition regulation' - rely on growinginformation on the economic aspects of the problems, theyhave limited knowledge of the competition-relatedconcerns and preferences of citizens (economic and moral).More generally, whilst the study of citizens' policypreferences is burgeoning, scholars have largely neglectedpreferences in digital markets. The proposed PhD project analyses UK citizens' attitudestowards digital markets, focusing on competition-relatedaspects. It asks five inter-related research questions: (i) What (if any) concerns citizens have regarding thecurrent functioning of digital markets and 'big tech'companies? (e.g., in terms of consumer choice). (ii) What do they want digital markets to look like, andwhy? (e.g., what market conduct do they want to see, andwhat (limits to) consumer choice do they prefer?)(iii) What type of regime do they prefer for any regulationof the markets, and why? (e.g., to what extent do theyprefer self- and government regulation? What sort of rulesdo they prefer?)(iv) How do their attitudes toward digital markets varyacross parts of the population? (e.g., are there differencesbetween generations, the four UK nations, socio-economicgroups, and people with different levels of digital marketexperience?) (v) Does the clarity of citizens' attitudes vary on differentissues and, if so, what drives this diversity?These questions are addressed by using both a representative, nation-wide survey and focus groups. Thesurvey's focus is on general patterns in citizens' attitudesand preferences. The focus groups - to be held in the fournations - explore the motivations behind the broaderpatterns, including the role of citizens' experience withdigital markets. In this way, the project interrogates the legitimacy of thedigital market regulation being developed. Legitimacyrefers here to the compatibility of regulation with societalnorms and principles. Such 'output legitimacy' is importantin its own right in democracies, but also enhances thesuccess of policies as it facilitates regulatory enforcementand makes business compliance more likely. Moreover, byhelping policymakers take citizens into account, the designof regulation is less likely to be disproportionally influencedby business interests. Finally, by exploring the clarity ofcitizens' attitudes, the project contributes to a betterunderstanding of the feasibility and appropriateness ofcitizen engagement by regulators.

数字市场为国家、经济和社会创造了许多机会。然而，像其他市场一样，它们并不总是产生最有效和道德上最理想的结果。除了引发隐私和数据保护问题外，数字市场还引发了对滥用支配地位、市场占有率和消费者选择的竞争担忧。全世界的立法者和监管者都在寻求监管政策来解决这些问题。然而，尽管政策制定者可以--在制定“促进竞争的监管”的过程中--依赖日益增长的有关问题经济方面的信息，但他们对公民（经济和道德）与竞争相关的担忧和偏好的了解有限。更普遍地说，尽管对公民政策偏好的研究正在蓬勃发展，但学者们在很大程度上忽视了数字市场中的偏好。拟议的博士项目分析英国公民对数字市场的态度，重点是与竞争相关的方面。它提出了五个相互关联的研究问题：（i）公民对数字市场和“大型科技”公司的当前运作有什么（如果有的话）担忧？(e.g.,消费者的选择）。(ii)他们希望数字市场是什么样的，为什么？(e.g.,他们希望看到什么样的市场行为，他们更喜欢什么样的消费者选择（限制）？(iii)他们喜欢什么样的制度来监管市场，为什么？(e.g.,他们在多大程度上更喜欢自我监管和政府监管？他们更喜欢什么样的规则？）(iv)他们对数字市场的态度在不同人群中有何不同？(e.g.,不同的世代、英国的四个民族、社会经济群体和不同数字市场经验水平的人之间是否存在差异？）(v)公民态度的清晰度是否因组织而异？如果是，是什么推动了这种多样性？这些问题通过具有代表性的全国性调查和焦点小组来解决。这项调查的重点是公民的态度和偏好的一般模式。将在四国举行的焦点小组会议探讨了更广泛模式背后的动机，包括公民对数字市场的体验。通过这种方式，该项目质疑正在开发的数字市场监管的合法性。合法性在这里指的是监管与社会规范和原则的兼容性。这种“产出合法性”在民主国家本身就很重要，但也会提高政策的成功率，因为它有助于监管的执行，使企业更有可能遵守。此外，通过帮助决策者考虑公民，监管的设计不太可能受到商业利益的负面影响。最后，通过探索公民态度的清晰度，该项目有助于更好地理解监管机构公民参与的可行性和适当性。