Gender, malice, obligation and the state: Separated mothers’ experiences of administrative burdens with Australia's child support program

Cook, Kay

doi:10.1111/1467-8500.12522

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…With few exceptions, studies find that encountering state barriers is associated with experiences of learning and compliance costs. Examples of learning costs are learning about requirements (Cook 2021), misinformation (Chudnovsky and Peeters 2021a), and how to redeem vouchers (Barnes 2021), while compliance costs include transportation time to vaccinator camps (Ali and Altaf 2021) and completing forms (Yates et al 2021). Most studies are conducted in means-tested programs where learning and compliance costs arise as a consequence of (eligibility) requirements.…”

Section: Figure 5 Extended Model Of Causal Claimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The general finding from the 15 studies discussing this topic is that state actions are associated with various forms of psychological costs. Examples of psychological costs arising from state actions are autonomy loss and stress , frustration (Cook 2021), stigma (Selin 2019;Thomsen et al 2020), externalization of locus of control (Madsen and Mikkelsen 2021), uncertainty (Cecchini nd) and confusion, anger and frustration (Hattke, Hensel, and Kaluzca 2019). Studies fall in two methodological categories: qualitative studies and experiments.…”

Section: Arrow 1c: Barriers à Psychological Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, (ex-)family members may influence experiences of administrative burden (Nisar 2018). Cook (2021) illustrates how ex-partners may directly impose burdens on mothers in the child support benefit system in Australia. As an example, some fathers limit their child support liabilities or claim that they have already provided payments to mothers.…”

Section: Third Parties and Scarce Financial Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Administrative Burden in Citizen-State Interactions: A Systematic Literature Review

Halling¹,

Bækgaard²

2022

Preprint

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Research on administrative burdens in citizen-state interactions has expanded massively. Based on a sys- tematic review of 108 articles and working papers, we provide an overview of how administrative burdens in citizen-state interactions have been studied since the inception of the research agenda in 2012. We develop a new and comprehensive model of how key concepts in the framework are related, assess the evidence of the causal relationships proposed by the model, and discuss where more evidence is needed. Empirical research supports conventional claims that burdens are consequential, distributive, and con- structed. However, the literature has moved even further by 1) demonstrating that factors unrelated to state constructions of burdens, such as frontline service delivery and government communication, influ- ence experiences of burdens; 2) highlighting how factors beyond ideology influence constructions of burdens; 3) introducing the burden tolerance concept; 4) illustrating that experiences of burden influence policy makers’ and members of the publics’ burden tolerance. Based on the review, we propose an agenda for future administrative burden research. We argue that future studies should establish causal links be- tween state actions and experiences of burden, build validated measures of costs categories and burden tolerance, and compare burdens across contexts. Further, empirical studies should examine the tradeoffs between legitimacy and experiences of burden, and how actors outside the citizen-state interaction may influence experiences of administrative burden.

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Section: Figure 5 Extended Model Of Causal Claimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Arrow 1c: Barriers à Psychological Costsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Third Parties and Scarce Financial Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Administrative Burden in Citizen-State Interactions: A Systematic Literature Review

Halling¹,

Bækgaard²

2022

Preprint

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“…Often compliance and learning costs are not distributed equally, and thus can place unequal burdens on people seeking to access a service or program. The way that these costs are unequally distributed can have normative implications (Carey et al, 2021;Cook, 2021b), and this is a central theme we explore in our discussion section. As identified by Carey et al (2021) in this symposium, we also highlight that social capital is an important moderator of learning and compliance costs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is in a form? Examining the complexity of application forms and administrative burden

2021

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Analysis of the welfare state emphasises that access to social security support is a key component of the relationship between the state and the citizen. Recent literature has identified administrative burden as a concept that helps us to understand an emerging dynamic between the state and the citizen, where citizens must deal with increasingly onerous administrative 'costs' in order to access services or support from the state.Increased administrative burden has been identified at many stages of access to social security support and government services. Burdens are often talked about in general terms, that is, the amount of administrative complexity associated with a particular welfare service. In this paper, we look at how administrative burden can be found in even the smallest unit of administrationapplication forms. Taking a form from the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), we contribute to the growing literature on application forms and administrative burden by developing a framework to assess the complexity of questions on an application form. We show that in areas where citizens lives are complex, questions on forms can constrain the capacity of citizens to accurately represent their circumstances and, in turn, constrain their ability to gain access to support.

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Administrative Burden in Citizen–State Interactions: A Systematic Literature Review

Halling,

Baekgaard

2023

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

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Based on a systematic review of 119 articles and working papers, we provide an overview of how administrative burdens in citizen-state interactions have been studied since the inception of the research agenda in 2012. We develop a new and comprehensive model of how key concepts in the framework are related, assess the evidence of the causal relationships proposed by the model, and discuss where more evidence is needed. Empirical research supports conventional claims that burdens are consequential, distributive, and constructed. However, the literature has moved further by (1) demonstrating that factors such as frontline service delivery and government communication influence experiences of burdens; (2) highlighting how factors beyond ideology influence constructions of burdens; (3) introducing the burden tolerance concept; (4) illustrating that experiences of burden influence policymakers’ and members of the publics’ burden tolerance. Based on the review, we propose an agenda for future administrative burden research. We call for studies linking experiences of burden to outcomes such as democratic behavior and take-up, and for studies connecting policymakers’ burden tolerance to actual state actions. Moreover, we argue that future studies should use qualitative methods to further explore the nature of burdens from the perspective of citizens, rely on experimental methods to establish causal links between state actions and experiences of burden, and compare burdens across contexts. Further, empirical studies should examine the tradeoffs between legitimacy and experiences of burden, and how actors outside the citizen-state interaction may influence experiences of administrative burden.

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Gender, malice, obligation and the state: Separated mothers’ experiences of administrative burdens with Australia's child support program

Cited by 5 publications

References 12 publications

Administrative Burden in Citizen-State Interactions: A Systematic Literature Review

Administrative Burden in Citizen-State Interactions: A Systematic Literature Review

What is in a form? Examining the complexity of application forms and administrative burden

Administrative Burden in Citizen–State Interactions: A Systematic Literature Review

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