Building a dynamic theory of citizens’ awareness of European Cohesion Policy interventions

Since more than thirty years, the European Cohesion Policy aims to reduce economic disparities and support regional development by funding local-orientated projects. However, the citizens’ awareness of Cohesion Policy follows an unexpected longitudinal pattern characterised by a notable decrease after an initial increase. Although researchers have been investigating the relationship between policy implementation and public awareness, a lack of systemic comprehension of the underlying mechanisms is evident. Using system dynamics, we develop a causal model to explain the roots of the declining awareness towards policy interventions. The findings highlight how citizens initially manifest a high collective attention to Cohesion Policy that tends to decay over time. These dynamics, combined with the citizens’ inherent tendency to lose information saved in their long-term individual memory, could elucidate the system's behaviour. This novel system dynamics application provides policy-makers with operational guidelines for developing efficient communication strategies to improve policy awareness.