Administrative Burden in Citizen-State Encounters: The Role of Waiting, Communication Breakdowns and Administrative Errors

Abstract

Drawing on interviews with disability and income support beneficiaries, the article examines the encounters of Israeli citizens with the National Insurance Institute. Using the administrative burden conceptualisation, our analysis highlights three known types of costs: compliance, learning and psychological. The current study provides further conceptualisation of these burdens by unfolding the role of three concrete elements involved in generating these burdens: waiting, communication breakdowns, and administrative errors. These elements are discussed in terms of their contribution to a better understanding of bureaucratic procedures that constitute administrative burdens in the context of the benefit claiming process.

Emergency-aid for self-employed in the Covid-19 pandemic: A flash in the pan?

“…Formal and informal practices shape how the benefits and costs of state programs are perceived. In this regard, time and ‘waiting for the state’ ( Carswell, Chambers, & De Neve, 2019 ) are shown to increase the non-monetary costs associated with state programs and the perceived administrative burdens ( Holler & Tarshish, 2022 ). Waiting is associated with temporal uncertainty leading to stress.…”

A Fast Track to Social Rights? Passported Benefits and Administrative Burden

“…As the Israeli case shows, the passported benefits of a single primary benefit are often provided by a number of separate providers, each with its own take-up process. As long as these processes are not automated or at least direct, the consequence is that potential claimants have to deal with multiple claiming processes, thereby experiencing higher compliance and learning burdens, such as filling-in forms, learning of eligibility and procedures and experiencing waiting times (see Bielefeld, 2021;Holler and Tarshish, 2022) and psychological costs such as stigma and feelings of lack of deservingness. In addition, having to go through multiple processes requires them to gain considerable knowledge about different claiming processes, sometimes even for marginal benefits, thus creating a heavy learning cost (Moynihan et al, 2015), potentially leading to non-take-up.…”

“You didn't ask, so you don't know”: Information and administrative burden in social benefit claims

“…Christensen et al (2020) highlighted human capital as a key factor of inequality in administrative burden experiences, and Masood and Nisar (2021) identified social capital as another critical aspect. Holler and Tarshish (2022) addressed the impact of waiting times, administrative errors and communication breakdowns as potential triggers of all types of administrative burden. Finally, researchers also highlighted a possible spillover effect across burdens (Baekgaard & Tankink, 2022; Barnes & Riel, 2022), contributing to a more multifaceted understanding of the three costs.…”