Administrative Capital and Citizens’ Responses to Administrative Burden

Abstract

Administrative burden research has highlighted the multiple costs imposed by public policies and their impact on citizens. However, the empirical understanding of citizens’ responses to such burdens remains limited. Using ethnographic data of doctors applying for maternity leave in Pakistan, this article documents strategies used by citizens to navigate the administrative burden faced by them. Our findings suggest that these strategies are based on an individual’s cache of social, cultural capital, and economic capital. Based on our data, we also theorize the significance of another form of capital for navigating administrative burden. This administrative capital is defined as an individual’s understanding of bureaucratic rules, processes, and behaviors. Our findings further illustrate that the different costs imposed by public policies can be interchangeable, which may be used by citizens to their advantage. Propositions for future research on the intersection of different forms capital and administrative burden are also included.

How-to Bureaucracy: A Concept of Citizens’ Administrative Literacy

“…For this purpose, six subcategories of AL will be formed: functional literacy, communicative literacy, structural literacy, processual literacy, civic literacy, and media literacy (see Table 1 for an overview). These dimensions are based and derived from similar subdimensions in the health literacy literature while adding domain-specific dimensions on characteristics of administrative structures and processes based on prior studies addressing demands on clients when interacting with public organizations (Goodsell, 1981; Gordon, 1975; Grönlund et al, 2007; Lipsky, 2010; Masood & Nisar, 2020).…”

“…Structural literacy includes a comprehension of internal and external administrative structures. In particular, it gives insight into the general working and organizational structures of public organizations (Masood & Nisar, 2020). The citizen understands organizations not just as a black box.…”

“…Bisgaard (2020) provides a highly valuable approach and shows that self-efficacy is a strong determinant of individual behavior during public encounters. Masood and Nisar (2020) describe in their case study how knowledge about bureaucratic rules and procedures enables clients to approach public organizations more proficiently, resulting in higher success rates when applying for maternity leave. Nielsen et al (2020) provide a useful set of client types based on their behavior prior and during public encounters.…”

“…This is further supported by a recent case study by Chudnovsky and Peeters (2020) that emphasizes the pivotal role of cognitive capacities and bureaucratic competences that affect non-take-up of welfare programs. In contrast to Masood and Nisar (2020), this covers not only knowledge but also skills specifically applied to the context of public encounters. Furthermore, their conceptualization of administrative capital focuses specifically on interactional sequence of public encounters.…”

Racialized Burdens: Applying Racialized Organization Theory to the Administrative State

“…Administrative burdens structure unequal access to public rights and services (Barnes 2020;Herd and Moynihan 2018;Masood and Nisar 2020). Existing theory, however, with some important exceptions (e.g.…”