When Will Public Officials Listen? A Vignette Experiment on the Effects of Input Legitimacy on Public Officials’ Willingness to Use Public Participation

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6362249
AutoresKoen Migchelbrink (0000-0002-2195-3690, KU Leuven), Steven Van De Walle (0000-0003-1531-7097, KU Leuven, autor de correspondencia)
Año2019
Volumen80
Número2
Páginas271-280
Fecha de publicación2019-12-26
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPublic Administration Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0033-3352 • E-ISSN: 1540-6210
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/puar.13138
OpenAlexW2998099525
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas53
Referencias citadas57

Public officials can be reluctant to use citizens’ input in decision‐making, especially when turnout is low and participants are unrepresentative of the wider population. Using Fritz Scharpf's democratic legitimacy approach, the authors conducted a survey‐based vignette experiment to examine how the input legitimacy of participatory processes affects (1) public officials’ willingness to use public participation in administrative decision‐making, (2) their assessment of the quality of the policy decision, and (3) their anticipation of popular support for the policy outcome. The study shows that turnout and participants’ representativeness have a positive and significant effect on public officials’ attitudes toward public participation. Specifically, participants’ representativeness influences public officials’ willingness to use citizens’ inputs more than turnout

Citizen journalism · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Population · Public opinion · Public participation · Public relations · Representativeness heuristic · Sociology · Turnout · Vignette · Voting · Law · Psychology · Public Administration · Public Policy and Administration Research · Social Capital and Networks · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology