Mass media and bureaucracy-bashing: Does the media influence public attitudes towards public administration?

Rölle, Daniel

doi:10.1177/0952076716658798

Cited by 17 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…U.S. government spending as a portion of gross domestic product is fairly limited compared to other Western democracies, and the overwhelming majority of Americans are employed in the private sector (Persson and Tabellini 1999). The general dissatisfaction and the lack of faith and trust in both the elected officials and executive agencies have long been a part of the American culture (Bok 2001;Goodsell 2015;Marvel 2015;Rölle 2017). Some of these views can come from prior experiences (Hvidman and Andersen 2016).…”

Section: Theories and Evidence On Anti-government Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sector Bias and the Credibility of Performance Information: An Experimental Study of Elder Care Provision

Meier

Song

Davis

et al. 2021

Public Administration Review

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Reporting government performance to the public is key tool in improving accountability. Some evidence, however, has shown that individuals’ anti‐public sector biases may distort performance information about public organizations. Using an experimental vignette on U.S. nursing homes, this study fills four gaps in the literature: (1) the need to include nonprofit organizations rather than just public and for‐profit, (2) consideration of the credibility of the source of performance information, (3) the use of simple commonly used performance metrics, and (4) the willingness to use services as a performance dimension. We find the public has a general but modest anti‐for‐profit sector bias in nursing home care with nonprofits perceived the most positively. Sector biases generally disappear when clear performance data are presented. The credibility of the source matters, and respondents' willingness to use organizational services is more sensitive to both sector bias and performance ratings than are performance measures. Practitioner Points In the field of long‐term care, individuals have no anti‐public sector bias, and they have more favorable views of nonprofit organizations than for‐profit organizations. Perceived sector bias disappears when simple and unambiguous performance information is introduced. The source of performance information matters: individuals perceive the information from government and nonprofit sources as more credible than that from for‐profit sources. A high degree of credibility amplifies the effect of performance information in shaping individuals’ evaluations of public services.

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Section: Theories and Evidence On Anti-government Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sector Bias and the Credibility of Performance Information: An Experimental Study of Elder Care Provision

Meier

Song

Davis

et al. 2021

Public Administration Review

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“…Satisfaction with public services has furthermore been frequently studied in conjunction with levels of trust or confidence in government at various levels of government (Christensen and Laegreid, 2005; Kampen et al., 2006; Kumlin, 2009; Van Ryzin, 2007). In addition to other sources of information such as media coverage (e.g., Rölle, 2017), the personal experiences people have with public services can serve as the yardsticks with which people assess and evaluate their governments’ performance as a whole (Kumlin, 2004; Soss, 1999).…”

Section: User Perceptions Of Public Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing youth labour market services: Young people’s perceptions and evaluations of service delivery in Germany

Shore

Tosun

2017

Public Policy and Administration

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While youth unemployment is a widely studied topic, many accounts fail to take into consideration young adults’ experiences with and perceptions of the public services they make use of. Young people’s perceptions of the services they use are closely linked to a variety of behaviours such as noncompliance, early withdrawal or non-take-up, all of which can hinder the (re-)entry to the labour market. How young people evaluate their interactions with employment services can even have impacts on societal and political attitudes; as for many young people, these experiences represent their first interactions with the state. In this study, we draw on unique survey data to offer insights into young adults’ evaluations and experiences with public employment services in Germany and discuss them in light of the structure and organizational capacity of public employment services to deliver the programmes and services that young adults need. By placing the analytical focus on young people’s evaluations, we argue that although Germany is often highlighted as a highly successful case in terms of youth labour market outcomes; there is nevertheless ample room for improvement in terms of how young people assess the offerings and personal experiences with public employment services.

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“…In contrast to the welfare state orientation of Denmark, the United States has a relatively small government sector (37.6 percent of GDP, the ninth smallest in the OECD; OECD ) and thus a general preference for private sector delivery of services. Bureaucrat bashing has long been a tradition in the United States, dating to at least the Jacksonian contention that government jobs were simple enough that anyone could do them (White ; for more contemporary examples, see Goodsell , ; Marvel ; Rölle ). The recent “drain the swamp” rhetoric is only the latest example.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptual Bias and Public Programs: The Case of the United States and Hospital Care

Meier

Johnson²,

2019

Public Administration Review

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This article examines whether the public holds biased perceptions of public organizations (in this case, hospitals) in the United States and whether organizations get credit for positive results from program evaluations. Using an experimental design that replicates Hvidman and Andersen's 2016 Danish study, the study finds no negative public sector biases in the United States, but organizations are not given any credit for positive program evaluations. These results hold in two experimental replications. The implications of the findings for the measurement of public perceptions of government programs and for effective democratic governance are discussed. Evidence for Practice• Performance appraisal results generated by an agency do not appear to affect public evaluations of that agency. • U.S. public hospitals are not perceived more negatively than private hospitals in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, red tape, or benevolence. • Experiments on citizen evaluation need to be replicated in specific agency and national contexts.• Practitioners need to be especially careful about arguments related to efficiency and whether reliable measures of efficiency are possible.

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Mass media and bureaucracy-bashing: Does the media influence public attitudes towards public administration?

Cited by 17 publications

References 37 publications

Sector Bias and the Credibility of Performance Information: An Experimental Study of Elder Care Provision

Sector Bias and the Credibility of Performance Information: An Experimental Study of Elder Care Provision

Assessing youth labour market services: Young people’s perceptions and evaluations of service delivery in Germany

Perceptual Bias and Public Programs: The Case of the United States and Hospital Care

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