A signaling perspective on bureaucratic encounters: How public officials interpret signals and cues

Raaphorst, Nadine; Walle, Steven Van de

doi:10.1111/spol.12369

Cited by 44 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Other authors have shown how cultural and social aspects influence the exercise of discretion (Dubois, ; Maynard‐Moody & Musheno, ; Møller & Stensota, ; Stone, ). This is because bureaucrats' social histories play an essential role in the construction of their habits (Harrits & Møller, ), so the way bureaucrats understand citizens influences their decisions (Harrits, ; Møller & Stone, ) and the signals they interpret (Raaphorst & Van de Walle, ).…”

Section: Social Network and Relationships: Approaching Interactive Imentioning

confidence: 99%

How social networks affect policy implementation: An analysis of street‐level bureaucrats' performance regarding a health policy

Lotta

Marques

2019

Soc Policy Adm

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Policy implementation is an interactive process between citizens and street-level bureaucrats. Although the literature has already addressed different factors that influence discretion, there is still a gap in understanding if and how bureaucrats' relational profiles affect policy implementation.This article analyses bureaucrats' interactions and the relational environments in which they exercise their discretion.The hypothesis is that bureaucrats' different relational profiles specify policy implementation at the street level. We study bureaucrats in a Brazilian health care programme involving community workers that requires regular visits to beneficiary families' homes. The research departs from ethnography and network analyses with workers from three very different contexts. We analyse bureaucrats' practices, the discursive styles mobilized in their interactions, and their personal networks. The results show that organizational factors are central to explain variations in practices, and their relational profiles highly influence the discursive styles used by bureaucrats in their interactions with citizens. The article concludes that relational elements can affect the exercise of discretion and influence interactions at the street level and should be incorporated more systematically in the implementation literature.

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Section: Social Network and Relationships: Approaching Interactive Imentioning

confidence: 99%

How social networks affect policy implementation: An analysis of street‐level bureaucrats' performance regarding a health policy

Lotta

Marques

2019

Soc Policy Adm

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“…How bureaucrats react to cues like perceived need depends on how they assess and interpret information on clients (e.g. Oberfield, 2014; Raaphorst and Van de Walle, 2017). These interpretations are informed by their general attitude towards clients (e.g.…”

Section: Why Bureaucrats’ Attitude Towards Clients Mattersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding street-level bureaucrats’ attitude towards clients: Towards a measurement instrument

Keulemans

Walle

2018

Public Policy and Administration

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The attitude of street-level bureaucrats towards their clients has an impact on the decisions they take. Still, such attitudes have not received much scholarly attention, nor are they generally studied in much detail. This article uses Breckler's psychological multicomponent model of attitude to develop a scale to measure street-level bureaucrats' general attitude towards their clients. By means of a test study ( N=218) and a replication study ( N = 879), the article shows that street-level bureaucrats' attitude towards clients consists of four different components: a cognitive attitude component, a positive affective attitude component, a negative affective attitude component and a behavioural attitude component. It also establishes a conceptual and empirical distinction from related attitudes, such as prosocial motivation, work engagement, bureaucrats’ rule-following identities and self-efficacy, and suggests avenues for application and further validation among different groups of street-level bureaucrats. This instrument opens up opportunities for theory testing and causality testing that surpasses case-specific considerations.

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“…Although there are usually clear guidelines for caseworkers for transactional motivational strategies (e.g., when they have to report a client for a misconduct and under which circumstances they can cut benefits), when we look at the laissez-faire motivational strategy, we see that caseworkers react to the level of cooperation of clients in deciding whether they are going to help the client or not. However, the perception of who is cooperative and really trying is not exempt from stereotypical beliefs (Raaphorst & Van De Walle, 2017), and caseworkers who determine who deserves their help most can create a situation of inequality. Perhaps the client who sits quietly in the corner requires their help the most.…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Motivating the unemployed: A full‐range model of motivational strategies that caseworkers use to activate clients

2019

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Governments use activation policies to stimulate unemployed citizens in finding work. Caseworkers are, as frontline workers, responsible for concrete activation trajectories based on these activation policies. Little is known about how caseworkers try to get clients to participate in these activation trajectories. In a qualitative, inductive study (consisting of observations and reflective interviews) in two welfare agencies, we identified 10 motivational strategies that caseworkers employed. The full-range leadership model appeared to be an appropriate perspective to understand, systematize, and reflect on these strategies, in particular as our analyses show that these motivational strategies can be placed on a continuum ranging from laissez-faire to transactional and transformational strategies. We found that caseworkers matched their motivational strategy to the situation and client but preferred transformational strategies. Our findings implicate chances but also challenges for activation in practice and literature on front-line workers.

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A signaling perspective on bureaucratic encounters: How public officials interpret signals and cues

Cited by 44 publications

References 38 publications

How social networks affect policy implementation: An analysis of street‐level bureaucrats' performance regarding a health policy

How social networks affect policy implementation: An analysis of street‐level bureaucrats' performance regarding a health policy

Understanding street-level bureaucrats’ attitude towards clients: Towards a measurement instrument

Motivating the unemployed: A full‐range model of motivational strategies that caseworkers use to activate clients

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