When do unelected officials respond to citizen complaints, and what are the implications for service delivery? In the formal complaint system for Mumbai's water sector, bureaucrats addressed 44% of the roughly 20,000 complaints lodged from 2016 to 2018. In line with literature on distributive politics, responsiveness to marginalized citizens is lower. Yet in interviews, officials emphasize that programmatic goals and capacity constraints lead to prioritization by what the complaint is about. In fact, once controlling for complaint content, the relationship between complainant identity and responsiveness disappears. Initial patterns of differential responsiveness by complainant identity arise from the fact that citizens from marginalized groups experience lower levels of service provision, which leads them to make complaints that are more difficult to address. The paper sheds light on the role of bureaucracy in e‐governance and service delivery, showing administrative priorities in responding to complaints may perpetuate inequalities in service provision.
{"title":"How the content of digital complaints shapes bureaucratic responsiveness in Mumbai","authors":"Tanu Kumar","doi":"10.1111/gove.12889","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12889","url":null,"abstract":"When do unelected officials respond to citizen complaints, and what are the implications for service delivery? In the formal complaint system for Mumbai's water sector, bureaucrats addressed 44% of the roughly 20,000 complaints lodged from 2016 to 2018. In line with literature on distributive politics, responsiveness to marginalized citizens is lower. Yet in interviews, officials emphasize that programmatic goals and capacity constraints lead to prioritization by what the complaint is about. In fact, once controlling for complaint content, the relationship between complainant identity and responsiveness disappears. Initial patterns of differential responsiveness by complainant identity arise from the fact that citizens from marginalized groups experience lower levels of service provision, which leads them to make complaints that are more difficult to address. The paper sheds light on the role of bureaucracy in e‐governance and service delivery, showing administrative priorities in responding to complaints may perpetuate inequalities in service provision.","PeriodicalId":501138,"journal":{"name":"Governance","volume":"67 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141779960","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Cognition is an essential first step in crisis management. This article conceptualizes crisis cognition as a collective and context‐dependent process. Drawing on cognitive sociology, I argue that governmental structures and culture/identity shape cognitive schemas and communicative practices essential for collective cognition. I apply this framework to compare governments' recognition of the 2015 migration crisis in Luxembourg and Germany, which showed a puzzling gap in crisis preparation. The qualitative analysis triangulates interviews and other sources. In Germany, complex responsibilities, adversarial bureaucratic identities, and hubris inhibited cognition. In small Luxembourg, simple government structures and collective identity emphasizing vulnerability fostered timely cognition and preparation. I consider country size as macro‐level context that shapes government structures and officials' identities, and critically discuss its role as an underlying explanation. This study introduces a sociological perspective on cognition to public administration, shows through which mechanisms context affects collective behavior, and proposes a comparative explanation for effective crisis management.
{"title":"Collective cognition in context: Explaining variation in the management of Europe's 2015 migration crisis","authors":"Marlene Jugl","doi":"10.1111/gove.12887","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12887","url":null,"abstract":"Cognition is an essential first step in crisis management. This article conceptualizes crisis cognition as a collective and context‐dependent process. Drawing on cognitive sociology, I argue that governmental structures and culture/identity shape cognitive schemas and communicative practices essential for collective cognition. I apply this framework to compare governments' recognition of the 2015 migration crisis in Luxembourg and Germany, which showed a puzzling gap in crisis preparation. The qualitative analysis triangulates interviews and other sources. In Germany, complex responsibilities, adversarial bureaucratic identities, and hubris inhibited cognition. In small Luxembourg, simple government structures and collective identity emphasizing vulnerability fostered timely cognition and preparation. I consider country size as macro‐level context that shapes government structures and officials' identities, and critically discuss its role as an underlying explanation. This study introduces a sociological perspective on cognition to public administration, shows through which mechanisms context affects collective behavior, and proposes a comparative explanation for effective crisis management.","PeriodicalId":501138,"journal":{"name":"Governance","volume":"93 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141745799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Antoine Lemor, Éric Montpetit, Shoghig Téhinian, Clarisse Ven Belleghem, Steven Eichenberger, PerOla Öberg, Frédéric Varone, David Aubin, Jean‐Louis Denis
This study presents a dual‐method approach to systematically analyze public health advisory networks during the COVID‐19 pandemic across four jurisdictions: Belgium, Quebec, Sweden, and Switzerland. Using network analysis inspired by egocentric analysis and a subsystems approach adapted to public health, the research investigates network structures and their openness to new actors and ideas. The findings reveal significant variations in network configurations, with differences in density, centralization, and the role of central actors. The study also uncovers a relation between network openness and its structural attributes, highlighting the impact of network composition on the flow and control of expert advice. These insights into public health advisory networks contribute to understanding the interface between scientific advice and policymaking, emphasizing the importance of network characteristics in shaping the influence of expert advisors. The article underscores the relevance of systematic network descriptions in public policy, offering reflections on expert accountability, information diversity, and the broader implications for democratic governance.
{"title":"Network dynamics in public health advisory systems: A comparative analysis of scientific advice for COVID‐19 in Belgium, Quebec, Sweden, and Switzerland","authors":"Antoine Lemor, Éric Montpetit, Shoghig Téhinian, Clarisse Ven Belleghem, Steven Eichenberger, PerOla Öberg, Frédéric Varone, David Aubin, Jean‐Louis Denis","doi":"10.1111/gove.12885","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12885","url":null,"abstract":"This study presents a dual‐method approach to systematically analyze public health advisory networks during the COVID‐19 pandemic across four jurisdictions: Belgium, Quebec, Sweden, and Switzerland. Using network analysis inspired by egocentric analysis and a subsystems approach adapted to public health, the research investigates network structures and their openness to new actors and ideas. The findings reveal significant variations in network configurations, with differences in density, centralization, and the role of central actors. The study also uncovers a relation between network openness and its structural attributes, highlighting the impact of network composition on the flow and control of expert advice. These insights into public health advisory networks contribute to understanding the interface between scientific advice and policymaking, emphasizing the importance of network characteristics in shaping the influence of expert advisors. The article underscores the relevance of systematic network descriptions in public policy, offering reflections on expert accountability, information diversity, and the broader implications for democratic governance.","PeriodicalId":501138,"journal":{"name":"Governance","volume":"138 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141745798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sicheng Chen, Lingran Yuan, Weijie Wang, Binlei Gong
This study examines whether and how information asymmetry affects local governments' gaming behaviors in a decentralization reform. We contend that adequate access to local information by the principal is a prerequisite for mitigating effort substitution among agents. We examine the hypothesis based on a decentralization reform in China—the Integration of Agriculture‐related Fiscal Transfer reform. We use the distance between pilot villages and the provincial capital as the measurement of local information. Employing a difference‐in‐differences design to scrutinize a unique dataset comprising 85,628 observations spanning 9199 villages from 2011 to 2020, we find that subnational decentralization with information asymmetry leads to increased effort substitution by local governments. Further analysis reveals that more abundant local information can alleviate the extent of effort substitution in reformed villages. Overall, this research highlights the importance of considering local information when designing policies to mitigate performance gaming in public goods provision and support effective subnational decentralization.
{"title":"Decentralization, local information, and effort substitution: Evidence from a subnational decentralization reform in China","authors":"Sicheng Chen, Lingran Yuan, Weijie Wang, Binlei Gong","doi":"10.1111/gove.12884","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12884","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines whether and how information asymmetry affects local governments' gaming behaviors in a decentralization reform. We contend that adequate access to local information by the principal is a prerequisite for mitigating effort substitution among agents. We examine the hypothesis based on a decentralization reform in China—the Integration of Agriculture‐related Fiscal Transfer reform. We use the distance between pilot villages and the provincial capital as the measurement of local information. Employing a difference‐in‐differences design to scrutinize a unique dataset comprising 85,628 observations spanning 9199 villages from 2011 to 2020, we find that subnational decentralization with information asymmetry leads to increased effort substitution by local governments. Further analysis reveals that more abundant local information can alleviate the extent of effort substitution in reformed villages. Overall, this research highlights the importance of considering local information when designing policies to mitigate performance gaming in public goods provision and support effective subnational decentralization.","PeriodicalId":501138,"journal":{"name":"Governance","volume":" 1273","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141822964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Can public agencies boost support for their mandate by being more transparent? We examine this important question in the context of foreign aid. Skepticism about foreign aid spending is common among citizens. This article argues that bilateral aid agencies can increase support for foreign aid by enhancing transparency. The article presents findings from three survey experiments involving a representative sample of 2058 British citizens, as well as observational data at the cross‐national level. The results suggest that transparency reforms are among the most effective institutional interventions for increasing public support. They also suggest that transparency is most effective at increasing public support amongst those who are initially more skeptical of aid and the civil service. Finally, they suggest that citizens do not have strong preferences about the type of information disclosed. They reward all types of transparency.
{"title":"Transparency and citizen support for public agencies: The case of foreign aid","authors":"Mirko Heinzel, Bernhard Reinsberg, Haley Swedlund","doi":"10.1111/gove.12863","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12863","url":null,"abstract":"Can public agencies boost support for their mandate by being more transparent? We examine this important question in the context of foreign aid. Skepticism about foreign aid spending is common among citizens. This article argues that bilateral aid agencies can increase support for foreign aid by enhancing transparency. The article presents findings from three survey experiments involving a representative sample of 2058 British citizens, as well as observational data at the cross‐national level. The results suggest that transparency reforms are among the most effective institutional interventions for increasing public support. They also suggest that transparency is most effective at increasing public support amongst those who are initially more skeptical of aid and the civil service. Finally, they suggest that citizens do not have strong preferences about the type of information disclosed. They reward all types of transparency.","PeriodicalId":501138,"journal":{"name":"Governance","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140171827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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