Gender, situational visibility, and discretionary decision-making of regulatory street-level bureaucrats under pandemic emergency: an experimental study in China

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Fan Yang ◽  
Xiaoxia Huang ◽  
Zhichao Li
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Experimental Study ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

Poll Worker Decision Making at the American Ballot Box

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 714-718
Author(s):  
Mara Suttmann-Lea
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Matching Law ◽  
Election Law ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Signature Matching ◽  
American Elections ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
The City ◽  
Depth Interviews

Street-level bureaucrats set the terms for policy implementation and often operate under limited oversight. In American elections, poll workers are the street-level bureaucrats tasked with implementing a jurisdiction’s laws for verifying voter eligibility. Using in-depth interviews with 24 poll workers from the city of Chicago, this article assesses how poll workers make decisions about voter eligibility under Illinois’ signature-matching law. Respondents discussed a range of considerations used when they examine voter eligibility. The evidence I present suggests they rely on personal perspectives and experiences in their evaluations. Respondents also offered a range of responses for how they would proceed in the instance of a mismatching signature—including requesting voters provide identification even though it is not a requirement in Illinois unless a voter is challenged. Broadly, these results illustrate how poll workers’ subjective interpretations of election law shape their decisions and can lead to idiosyncratic applications of election law.

Risk Classification Systems and the Provision of Juvenile Aftercare

1993 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Maupin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Random Sample ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Risk Classification ◽  
Classification Systems ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Parole Officers ◽  
Classification Score ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Juvenile Parole

Juvenile aftercare decision-making systems that classify parolees according to perceived risk and needs are designed to render uniform the treatment of these individuals by juvenile parole officials. This article analyzes a system implemented by Arizona to determine if the intensity of supervision received by parolees differs as a function of classification score. Supervision of a random sample of 280 parolees was tracked for 90 days. The analysis indicates that intensity of supervision does not differ based on the classification score, suggesting that the instrument does not control the decision making of the street-level bureaucrats, the parole officers.

scholarly journals Public agents of front line: the creator of administrative law

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Bonacorsi de Palma
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Front Line ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Street Level ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

<span>Abstract: The role of the front-line public agents in the implementation of the public policies created by the first-tier is the subject addressed by the author. From the notion of street-level bureaucrats, it seeks to identify the difficulties encountered by such public agents in decision-making and the need for standards that provide for institutes and administrative dynamics that in fact lead to more efficient, impersonal and guaranteeing public action to protect the well-intentioned front-line public agent to fully exercise the discretion he needs in case-by-case action.</span>

scholarly journals From satisficing to artificing: The evolution of administrative decision-making in the age of the algorithm

Data & Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thea Snow
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Human Judgment ◽  
Decision Tools ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Public Sector Organizations ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract Algorithmic decision tools (ADTs) are being introduced into public sector organizations to support more accurate and consistent decision-making. Whether they succeed turns, in large part, on how administrators use these tools. This is one of the first empirical studies to explore how ADTs are being used by Street Level Bureaucrats (SLBs). The author develops an original conceptual framework and uses in-depth interviews to explore whether SLBs are ignoring ADTs (algorithm aversion); deferring to ADTs (automation bias); or using ADTs together with their own judgment (an approach the author calls “artificing”). Interviews reveal that artificing is the most common use-type, followed by aversion, while deference is rare. Five conditions appear to influence how practitioners use ADTs: (a) understanding of the tool (b) perception of human judgment (c) seeing value in the tool (d) being offered opportunities to modify the tool (e) alignment of tool with expectations.

scholarly journals From Poker Games to Kitchen Tables: How Social Dynamics Affect Frontline Decision Making

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Raaphorst ◽  
Kim Loyens
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Context ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Labor Inspectorate

Existing research on bureaucratic encounters typically studies how bureaucrats’ and clients’ characteristics influence frontline decision making. How social interactions between street-level bureaucrats and between officials and citizens could directly affect case-related decisions largely remains an underexplored field of study, despite the fact that new forms of governance introduce social dynamics in the form of trust and collaboration as tools to increase legitimacy. Relying on in-depth qualitative data of the Belgian labor inspectorate and the Dutch tax authorities, this study scrutinizes how decisions about cases could be affected by their immediate social context.

Does Core Task Matter for Decision-Making? A Comparative Case Study on Whether Differences in Job Characteristics Affect Discretionary Street-Level Decision-Making

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 1125-1147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didde Cramer Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Job Characteristics ◽  
Systematic Variation ◽  
Comparative Case Study ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

This article sets out to test the hypothesis that differences in fundamental job characteristics (service vs. regulation) affect discretionary street-level decision-making. The hypothesis was tested by examining whether systematic variation could be found in the moral assessments on which street-level bureaucrats performing different types of core tasks base their decisions. The issue was addressed in a comparative case study comprising three institutions, which differ systematically as far as variables of tasks are concerned. Findings showed that differences in core tasks do affect discretionary decision-making, as divergent moral assessments determine and justify decision-making across different core tasks.

scholarly journals Politicians’ involvement in street-level policy implementation: Implications for social equity

2021 ◽  
pp. 095207672110240
Author(s):  
Maayan Davidovitz ◽  
Nissim Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Equity ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Elected Officials ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Provision Of Services ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

The study explores whether elected officials’ involvement in the way street-level bureaucrats implement policy affects social equity. This question is addressed empirically through interviews and focus groups with 84 Israeli educators and social workers. Findings indicate that elected officials involve themselves directly and indirectly in street-level bureaucrats’ policy implementation and their involvement reduces social equity in the provision of services. The study contributes to the literature on policy implementation by enabling a deeper understanding of the factors that shape the decision-making process of street-level bureaucrats when providing services and their ultimate impact on policy outcomes.

Policy Refiners and Street-Level Lesson Learners

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alastair Stark
Keyword(s):  
Policy Evaluation ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Central Level ◽  
Government Level ◽  
Inquiry Lesson

This chapter explores agents who are influential in terms of inquiry lesson-learning but have not been examined before in inquiry literature. The key argument is that two types of agent—policy refiners and street-level bureaucrats—are important when it comes to the effectiveness of post-crisis lesson-learning. As they travel down from the central government level, street-level actors champion, reinterpret, and reject inquiry lessons, often because those lessons do not consider local capacities. Policy refiners, however, operate at the central level in the form of taskforces, implementation reviews, and policy evaluation processes. These refiners examine potentially problematic inquiry lessons in greater detail in order to determine whether and how they should be implemented. In doing so, these ‘mini-inquiries’ can reformulate or even abandon inquiry recommendations.

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