How does procedural justice on the street-level affect citizens' tendency to act as vigilantes? In this paper, we wish to examine the unintended effects of street-level bureaucrats' (SLBs) implementation of policy on citizens' vigilantism. Specifically, we explore how clients’ sense of procedural justice during their interactions with police officers and their sense of the availability of the services they seek affect their perceptions about law enforcement.

Vigilantism is an illegal activity carried out by a private citizen in response to criminal activity committed by another private citizen against that same perpetrator. Research suggests that the factors that lead to vigilantism are correlated with the experiences that crime victims have with law enforcement and the outcomes they receive. In this paper, we argue that citizens’ sense of procedural justice throughout their interactions with street-level members of the law enforcement community might lead to their vigilantism.

SLBs are a diverse group whose formal task is to improve the welfare of society and help their citizen-clients. They are public employees who interact directly with citizens. Through their discretion in implementing policy, they can have a strong effect on the actual outcomes that citizens experience.

Procedural justice is an element of street-level work. It refers to the degree of fairness in the process of allocating public goods. Processes that seem to lack procedural justice imply that decisions are made based on personal opinions, which signals to people that they will not receive fair treatment. Such perceptions affect citizens’ views of the legitimacy and their trust in and satisfaction with public agencies.

Procedural justice is particularly salient in the daily interactions between citizens and SLBs, but there is limited research in public management linking the two. Research from related disciplines addresses these issues, maintaining that SLBs’ procedural justice has a direct impact on citizens' perceptions and behavior. These studies reinforce the need to understand SLBs’ impact on citizens, especially those involved in enforcing compliance. Regardless of the written policy, how SLBs use procedural justice when implementing policy might affect citizens' behavior. Thus, the role of SLBs is important not only because of their influence on policy outcomes, but also because how they implement policy may prompt citizens to engage in vigilante activities.

To investigate this issue, we will use a quantitative methodology, which includes a between-subjects experimental design using a sample of 500 Israeli citizens. We present our respondents with hypothetical scenarios about various types of interactions with police officers after being victims of a crime. The scenarios are short, concise, and true-to-life. The vignettes vary with regard to two situational factors: (1) procedural justice and (2) service availability. Procedural justice is manipulated through three key components (trustworthiness, respectful treatment, and voice) and will consist of two levels (just or unjust). Service availability is also consist of two levels (low and high), resulting in a 2x2 factorial design. Respondents were randomly allocated to the experimental conditions or to the control group. After reading the scenario, participants were asked questions related to the hypothetical police encounter. Some of these items were used as outcome variables and others for manipulation checks.

We hope to contribute to the literature on public management and implementation by expanding existing knowledge about the relationship between SLBs' discretion and work routines and the perceptions and behaviors of citizens. By examining the allocation of public goods in the context of policing as a process, we hope to take our analysis one step further and understand the causality of the implications of citizens' interactions with public service providers. We hope to discover what happens after citizens' encounters with SLBs end and how the latter’s behavior and role perceptions during these encounters affect people’s behavior and possibly lead to illegal activity. We also hope to contribute to the literature on policing by discovering the missing link between police officers’ procedural justice and vigilantism. Lastly, our results might have practical implications for developing public policy that meets the needs of citizens and thus reduces the need for vigilantism.

Multiple crises have emerged where the initial damage is only half the story, as public authorities’ attempts to resolve the crisis result in an administrative quagmire so extensive that citizens become trapped in administrative limbo. Anecdotal evidence suggests that such limbo can induce effects ranging from mistrust in government to psychosomatic and mental health complaints (e.g. burnout and depression). However, systematic inquiries into the phenomenon remain lacking. Building on prior work on administrative burden and (in)justice, this contribution defines how protracted procedures (or the lack thereof) may result in experiences of administrative limbo. After defining administrative limbo as a concept, we explore how it may progressively grind down citizens’ trust, resilience and ultimately even health. We argue that temporal accumulations of bureaucratic interactions, stress, time spent in uncertainty, and repeated experiences of perceived injustice may combine to exacerbate the ‘usual’ costs of administrative burdens and (in)justice, and in turn lead to potentially severe psychosocial and psychosomatic outcomes. We rely on a combination of 16 interviews and secondary qualitative data from Irish and Dutch cases (Irish defective blocks crisis, Dutch childcare benefits affair and Dutch Groninger Gas crisis) to provide initial qualitative insights into these dynamics.

The twentieth century has seen a rise of women’s labor market participation but sizable gender gaps remain (Petrongolo & Ronchi, 2020). A key reason why women don’t work as much as men is that they have historially worked less (Psacharopoulos & Tzannatos, 1989). To help women connect to the paid labor market, public organizations offer services such as counselling, training, or possibilities for re-education. There is empirical support that such efforts are effective for women (Kruppe & Lang 2018).

However, the take-up of such services is often rather low. Drawing on the literature on administrative burden (Herd & Moynihan, 2019), we expect that woman may be unaware of existing programs, can be confused about eligibility criteria, or have an aversion to the “hassle” of claiming. We design and tests interventions that make it easier for women to use existing programs aimed at (re-)enter the work force. Moreover, we explicitly look at how different subgroups experience administrative burdens and design tailored but scaleable interventions. We answer: To what extent can administrative burden be reduced for different types of women seeking paid work?

Working closely with local service providers in The Netherlands, we use a multi-study approach. In study 1 we use focus groups to identify subgroups of unemployed women and develop interventions that reduce administrative burden. Study 2 tests initial interventions in the field. Study 3 is a broader roll-out of study 2. Data collection starts in May 2023.

References

Herd, P., & Moynihan, D. P. (2019). Administrative burden: Policymaking by other means. Russell Sage Foundation.

Petrongolo, B., & Ronchi, M. (2020). Gender gaps and the structure of local labor markets. Labour Economics, 64, 101819.

Psacharopoulos, G., & Tzannatos, Z. (1989). Female labor force participation: An international perspective. The World Bank Research Observer, 4(2), 187-201.

Kruppe, T., & Lang, J. (2018). Labour market effects of retraining for the unemployed: the role of occupations. Applied Economics, 50(14), 1578-1600.

Many public employees regularly experience stress at their job because they have to deal with the severe workload and juggle conflicting demands from policy rules, clients' needs, their professional codes, and own personal values (Tummers et al. 2015). Additionally, they are commonly negatively stereotyped by citizens. They are often seen as risk-avoiding, lazy, slow and inefficient (Willems 2020).

Such negative stereotypes have serious negative consequences on their motivation and performance. As such, dealing with negative views of the public is an additional psychological burden to public employees whose jobs are already stressful.

Studies have shown that negative stereotypes can activate emotional states that affect their behavior (Keller and Dauenheimer, 2003). However, it remains unknown how emotional experiences of public employees during encounters of negative stereotypes lead to behavioural decisions that ultimately impacts policy implementation.

Using interviews with police officials in the United States (n=20) and the Netherlands (n=20) and drawing on findings from studies on coping behaviors in the public sector, and the study of emotion and stereotyping, this study will explore how variation in experienced emotions in stereotype encounters may bear on behavioral choices during public service delivery.

This study contributes to the literature on public encounters by adopting a perspective that has received little to no attention in mainstream literature i.e., a focus on public employees’ emotional experiences when encountering negative public stereotyping incidents. An emphasis on the emotional aspects of citizen-state interactions as key drivers of the quality of citizen-state relationship is important as it underscores the vital role played by public employees in the success or failure of the public sector.

Data collection is ongoing.

Keller, Johannes, and Dirk Dauenheimer. 2003. “Stereotype Threat in the Classroom: Dejection Mediates the Disrupting Threat Effect on Women’s Math Performance.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 29 (3): 371–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202250218.

Tummers, Lars L G, Victor Bekkers, Evelien Vink, and Michael Musheno. 2015. “Coping During Public Service Delivery: A Conceptualization and Systematic Review of the Literature.” https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/muu056.

Willems, Jurgen. 2020. “Public Servant Stereotypes: It Is Not (at) All about Being Lazy, Greedy and Corrupt.” Public Administration 98 (4): 807–23. https://doi.org/10.1111/padm.12686.

Proactive transparency, the practice of public institutions disseminating information without formal requests, has gained traction in crisis management due to its adaptability in challenging periods, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. This trend, initially propelled by New Public Management (NPM) style reforms, is increasingly embedded within Freedom of Information (FOI) laws globally, attesting to its growing acceptance.

Central to this escalating interest is the conviction that proactive transparency, particularly regarding institutional performance during crises, enhances public trust. This, in turn, fosters cooperation and facilitates effective governance. However, the question remains: does proactive transparency truly bolster the trust of service users in times of crisis?

In an era characterized by sophisticated public relations tactics and blame avoidance, it may seem optimistic to assume that information will be accepted at face value. This is even more pertinent in societies where mistrust is pervasive, as the credibility of the shared information is first to be questioned. Contrarily, it can also be argued that the revelation of unfavorable information might augment an institution's perceived integrity, thereby enhancing trustworthiness.

In order to examine the impact and effectiveness of proactive transparency, we conducted a survey experiment involving 1242 participants. As part of the experimental treatment, Pamukkale University in Turkey, acting as a service provider, disclosed information regarding its distance education performance to its students during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

Drawing from attribution theory, our findings suggest that two opposing effects may operate simultaneously: a direct effect and an indirect effect, mediated by the perceived impartiality of the shared information. Regarding effectiveness, we identified a partial positivity bias, possibly indicating a negative-positive asymmetry.

Our results suggest that proactive transparency can positively influence perceived trustworthiness when implemented judiciously. However, it is vital to approach this strategy with care and understanding of the specific context and potential challenges to its success.