2020 Volume 17 Pages 203-222
This study investigates the factors of support for striker eligibility criteria（ SEC）for the social assistance program（ SAP） in Japan with a focus on the effects of perceptions of welfare abuse. While the SAP is often criticized for its underuse in Japan, the Japanese citizens support the implementation of SEC for the SAP.
Previous studies have found that social and geographical proximities to welfare recipients as well as media use affect the support for SAP; however, these studies have not explained the mechanism through which these factors impact the support. Based on this viewpoint, we test the validity of the assumed mechanismthat proximity and media use affect the perceptions of welfare abuse, which in turn determines the support for SEC for the SAP. We observed the following results by using the multilevel structural equation modeling with Bayesian estimation: 1） social proximity （social network） to the welfare recipient reduces the perception of welfare abuse, whereas geographical proximity strengthens it. 2） Reading the newspaper reduces the perception of welfare abuse, whereas watching television and using the internet do not affect it. 3） Perceptions of welfare abuse strengthen the support for SEC for the SAP even after controlling the effects of self-interest. These results support the validity of our model.
