Decision-making is often used as a proxy for agency—the ability to set goals and act on them—although there are several theoretical critiques of this approach. Using unique data from the rural Philippines, this paper empirically tests the extent to which different aspects of decision-making are correlated with the Relative Autonomy Index, a measure of agency that has been validated for use in lower-income countries. Being a decision-maker (as asked in common survey questions) is only weakly related to the Relative Autonomy Index for women, and not at all for men. Having input into decisions and, to a greater extent, the ability to make personal decisions if desired are strongly associated with the RAI for both genders. The quantitative and qualitative data indicate that these concepts better capture the ability to make choices in line with one’s personal goals, while being a decision-maker instead reflects being responsible for the outcome or managing the execution of a task, often in the face of limited options. The findings caution against focusing on being a decision-maker as a sole indicator of agency and have practical implications for both conceptualizing and measuring agency.
Authors
Arugay, Aries, Donald, Aletheia, Jarvis, Forest, Johnson, Hillary C., Valenciano, Aletheia
- Associated content
- Link to data and reproducibility package
- Citation
- “ Arugay, Aries ; Donald, Aletheia ; Jarvis, Forest ; Johnson, Hillary C. ; Valenciano, Aletheia . 2024 . When Does Decision-Making Reflect Agency? Evidence from the Rural Philippines . Policy Research Working Paper; 10851 . © Washington, DC: World Bank . http://hdl.handle.net/10986/41896 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO . ”
- Collection(s)
- Policy Research Working Papers
- DOI
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-10851
- Identifier externaldocumentum
- 34364743
- Identifier internaldocumentum
- 34364743
- Pages
- 44
- Published in
- United States of America
- Region country
- Philippines
- RelationisPartofseries
- Policy Research Working Paper; 10851
- Report
- WPS10851
- Rights
- CC BY 3.0 IGO
- Rights Holder
- World Bank
- Rights URI
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/
- UNIT
- EAP Chief Economist Unit (EAPCE)
- URI
- https://hdl.handle.net/10986/41896
- date disclosure
- 2024-07-17
- region administrative
- East Asia and Pacific
- theme
- Data production, accessibility and use,Gender,Human Development and Gender,Data Development and Capacity Building,Rule of Law,Land Policy and Tenure,Personal and Property Rights,Rural Development,Public Sector Management,Urban and Rural Development
Files
Table of Contents
- 1. Introduction 4
- 2. Conceptual Framework 7
- 2.1 Agency and decision-making 7
- 2.2 Set Up 9
- 3. Context and Empirical Strategy 11
- 3.1 Country context 11
- 3.2 Quantitative Data and Analysis 12
- 3.3 Qualitative Data and Analysis 16
- 4. Results 17
- 4.1 Agency and decision-making 17
- 4.2 Regression analysis 19
- 4.3 Qualitative interview results 22
- 5. Conclusion and Discussion 24
- 6. References 27
- 7. Appendix 32
- Appendix A: Tables and Figures 32
- Appendix B: Validating the RAI in our survey 35
- Appendix C: Robustness Checks 38
