Digital India? an email experiment with Indian legislators

Bibliographic Data

ID12711925
AuthorsMilan Vaishnav (0000-0002-7696-125X, Moscow State University of Technologies and Management named after K.G. Razumovskiy, corresponding author), Saksham Khosla, Aidan Milliff (0000-0003-4503-5154, ORCID), Rachel Osnos
Year2019
Volume18
Issue3
Pages243-263
Publication date2019-05-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndia Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1473-6489 • E-ISSN: 1557-3036
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14736489.2019.1616259
OpenAlexW2959680310
LanguageEN
Citations received2

Of the many tasks elected representatives perform, constituency service is among the most difficult to observe and, therefore, to measure. However, a burgeoning literature uses digital tools such as email to experimentally evaluate the responsiveness of political elites to requests for constituency service. To date, this literature has overwhelmingly focused on the developed world. In this article, we describe the results of an email experiment in which we sent plausible, but fictitious constituency service requests to national legislators in India to evaluate their responsiveness, helpfulness, and possibly discriminatory behavior. While the overall response rate to our request is quite poor, those that do respond tend to offer “meaningful” responses. We find scant evidence of legislators discriminating on religious lines

Advertising · Business · Helpfulness · Internet privacy · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Service (business · Computer Science · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology · Marketing

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