Emotional Responses to Bureaucratic Red Tape

Abstract

This study investigates how varying conditions of administrative delay, administrative burden, and rule dysfunctionality spark discrete emotional reactions. Physiological measurements from 136 participants in a laboratory study show that bureaucratic red tape evokes significant negative emotional responses, especially confusion, frustration, and anger, regardless of the favorability of procedural outcomes.

Health care administrative burdens: Centering patient experiences

“…Broadly, there is evidence that administrative burdens affect psychological outcomes in different ways 17 . Lab‐based experimental studies have shown negative physiological reactions to compliance burdens, like filling out complicated paperwork 18 . They also may be the more direct result of features embedded in health care processes.…”