Recipients’ Current Effort Enhances Support for Public Assistance in Japan

The public assistance system, designed to guarantee a minimum standard of living, plays a central role in Japanese social welfare. However, recipients often face negative attitudes and inadequate support. Deservingness perceptions – the extent to which individuals perceive recipients as worthy of assistance – heuristically shape attitudes toward social welfare and, in turn, influence policy design. Therefore, strategies to enhance public support are required to develop adequate support policies. Although recipients’ effort is considered a key determinant of deservingness perceptions, the efficacy of presenting current effort cues as a strategy to improve public attitudes in Japan remains unclear. We conducted three vignette experiments with a Japanese sample (N = 1,208) to examine how recipients’ current effort, such as job-seeking activities, enhances support for public assistance, independently of their past behaviors or personal characteristics (e.g. reason for welfare receipt or disability status). Furthermore, participants’ anger and compassion toward recipients mediated their attitudes toward public assistance. These findings suggest that, regardless of the reasons for receipt, providing information about recipients’ modifiable current effort can enhance attitudes toward public assistance.