Councillors’ Receipt and Use of Citizen Input: Experience From Norwegian Local Government

Abstract

The article expands citizen participation research by tackling participation from the viewpoint of elected offi cials -the recipients of citizen input. The article studies the role citizen input plays in elected offi cials ' decision making. Citizen input is defi ned as information elected offi cials obtain through direct contact with citizens and representatives of local associations. Using survey data from Norwegian local government, the article assesses how much citizen input councillors receive, and to what extent they use it to set local agendas. It is demonstrated that Norwegian councillors have a high degree of exposure to citizen input and that citizen input constitutes most councillors ' primary source of agenda-setting inspiration. The article also examines differences in the extent to which councillors use citizen input, and draws on existing theoretical and empirical research to discuss how these differences can be explained. For example, fi ndings that local government frontbenchers and highly educated councillors consider citizen input less useful than others do are explained by an analytical perspective emphasizing councillors ' varied needs for such information.

Uk Local Government and Public Participation: Using Conjectures to Explain the Relationship

“…The second way in which the conjectures add value is that they allow the boundaries between different explanations to be clearly seen and thus draw attention to theoretic choices. Take the earlier example of local political elites for example, a field where there is a notable absence of research to draw on (Klijn and Koppenjan 2000; Askim and Hanssen 2008). If the reluctance of these elites is given as an explanation for poor outcomes from participation initiatives, then the conjectures signpost the different possible scenarios.…”

Never Change a Winning Policy? Public Sector Performance and Politicians' Preferences for Reforms

“…One might furthermore worry that better‐informed politicians are more likely to answer the survey. Building on findings by Askim and Hanssen () and Askim () that education is significantly correlated with the likelihood of searching and using performance information, we employ politicians' education level as a proxy for their information level. This shows that our results are robust when excluding respondents with higher education from the sample.…”

Managerial Ambivalence and Electronic Civic Engagement: The Role of Public Manager Beliefs and Perceived Needs

“…An examination of the public participation literature reveals two dimensions along which manager views of civic participation vary: their personal beliefs about participation and their perceived needs for public participation in the organization (Askim and Hanssen 2008 ;Yang and Callahan 2007 ). Research indicates that public managers who believe in the value of civic participation are more likely to take active and affirmative measures to enable or facilitate participation (Handley and Howell-Moroney 2010 ;Yang and Callahan 2007 ).…”

“…Research indicates that public managers who believe in the value of civic participation are more likely to take active and affirmative measures to enable or facilitate participation (Handley and Howell-Moroney 2010 ;Yang and Callahan 2007 ). At the same time, managers' professional backgrounds and everyday interactions with the public shape their perceived needs for civic participation relative to current levels of participation (Askim and Hanssen 2008 ). Ambivalence results when the perceived needs for civic participation fail to align with personal beliefs about participation (King, Feltey, and Susel 1998 ;Roberts 2004 ).…”