{"title":"数字客户表征的评估:一线员工如何从碎片化信息中重建客户叙述","authors":"Ida Bring Løberg","doi":"10.1093/jopart/muac017","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n Street-level bureaucrats assess increasing amounts of digital, often text-based, client representations. These representations have been criticized for oversimplification. However, frontline workers have also been known to develop simplified perceptions, or “shortcuts,” in their work. This study explores frontline workers’ assessments of digital client representations using observations of fifteen needs assessments and seven follow-up interviews from the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NAV). Based on simple information garnered from an online registration, workers decide how much assistance clients need from NAV to find work. Findings show that the online registration deconstructs client narratives into separate pieces of information, which the workers attempt to re-construct back into coherent narratives. Using a street-level perspective, this article argues that the reconstructions are coping responses to fragmented information. Unlike traditional simplification responses, the workers complicate their perceptions of clients in the assessments. That is, street-level bureaucrats take “detours” to provide responsive services and manage the limitations of electronic government. Thus, this article provides an empirical contribution that also forms the basis for abductive theorization and suggests that the conceptual boundaries of coping strategies should be expanded to include “complication responses.” In contrast to the emphasis on face-to-face meetings in street-level literature, this article highlights the importance of texts.","PeriodicalId":48366,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":5.2000,"publicationDate":"2022-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"1","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Assessments of Digital Client Representations: How Frontline Workers Reconstruct Client Narratives from Fragmented Information\",\"authors\":\"Ida Bring Løberg\",\"doi\":\"10.1093/jopart/muac017\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"\\n Street-level bureaucrats assess increasing amounts of digital, often text-based, client representations. These representations have been criticized for oversimplification. However, frontline workers have also been known to develop simplified perceptions, or “shortcuts,” in their work. This study explores frontline workers’ assessments of digital client representations using observations of fifteen needs assessments and seven follow-up interviews from the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NAV). Based on simple information garnered from an online registration, workers decide how much assistance clients need from NAV to find work. Findings show that the online registration deconstructs client narratives into separate pieces of information, which the workers attempt to re-construct back into coherent narratives. Using a street-level perspective, this article argues that the reconstructions are coping responses to fragmented information. Unlike traditional simplification responses, the workers complicate their perceptions of clients in the assessments. That is, street-level bureaucrats take “detours” to provide responsive services and manage the limitations of electronic government. Thus, this article provides an empirical contribution that also forms the basis for abductive theorization and suggests that the conceptual boundaries of coping strategies should be expanded to include “complication responses.” In contrast to the emphasis on face-to-face meetings in street-level literature, this article highlights the importance of texts.\",\"PeriodicalId\":48366,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory\",\"volume\":null,\"pages\":null},\"PeriodicalIF\":5.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2022-03-31\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"1\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"91\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muac017\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"管理学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"POLITICAL SCIENCE\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory","FirstCategoryId":"91","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muac017","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"POLITICAL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
Assessments of Digital Client Representations: How Frontline Workers Reconstruct Client Narratives from Fragmented Information
Street-level bureaucrats assess increasing amounts of digital, often text-based, client representations. These representations have been criticized for oversimplification. However, frontline workers have also been known to develop simplified perceptions, or “shortcuts,” in their work. This study explores frontline workers’ assessments of digital client representations using observations of fifteen needs assessments and seven follow-up interviews from the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NAV). Based on simple information garnered from an online registration, workers decide how much assistance clients need from NAV to find work. Findings show that the online registration deconstructs client narratives into separate pieces of information, which the workers attempt to re-construct back into coherent narratives. Using a street-level perspective, this article argues that the reconstructions are coping responses to fragmented information. Unlike traditional simplification responses, the workers complicate their perceptions of clients in the assessments. That is, street-level bureaucrats take “detours” to provide responsive services and manage the limitations of electronic government. Thus, this article provides an empirical contribution that also forms the basis for abductive theorization and suggests that the conceptual boundaries of coping strategies should be expanded to include “complication responses.” In contrast to the emphasis on face-to-face meetings in street-level literature, this article highlights the importance of texts.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory serves as a bridge between public administration or public management scholarship and public policy studies. The Journal aims to provide in-depth analysis of developments in the organizational, administrative, and policy sciences as they apply to government and governance. Each issue brings you critical perspectives and cogent analyses, serving as an outlet for the best theoretical and research work in the field. The Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory is the official journal of the Public Management Research Association.