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Abstract
As a global pandemic has a catastrophic impact in 2020, many people are increasingly interested in the role of public service bureaucrats, such as healthcare workers, police officers, or firefighters, who are working at the frontlines of the government. These first responders make decisions that can influence various facets of people’s lives. Different from a classic Weberian bureaucracy, street-level bureaucrats deliver essential public service by directly interacting with citizens.
Amid a growing interest in public service delivery, this dissertation presents three essays that show the varieties of public service bureaucracies interacting with citizens. The dissertation consists of one theoretical essay and two empirical chapters. The first essay develops a model to explain how frontline bureaucrats are motivated to engage in activities to help citizens and the extent of their behavior. This chapter is the first study that applies formal logic to the topic of street-level bureaucracy in the field of public administration.
The second essay investigates the demand side of public service delivery by examining how citizens’ prior expectations, existing perceptions, and post-disconfirmation influence their evaluation of public service performance. Findings suggest that people’s prior expectation on public service is positively related to their subsequent performance evaluation of the service. It turns out that citizens’ expectation also functions as a reference point when there are discrepancies between their expectations and lived experience. Furthermore, respondents’ overall perceptions of public service create a halo and thereby influence their subsequent appraisals of that service. Findings provide implications for understanding performance information reported from citizen surveys and for developing strategies to improve perceived service performance in the eyes of citizens.
Finally, the third essay examines the supply side of public service delivery by examining police officers’ law enforcement activities toward black citizens. Results suggest that when white officers comprise a greater percentage of a force, African American cops on that force are more likely to warn, cite, and arrest black citizens; however, when black officers form a high enough percentage of a force, warnings, citations, and arrests of black citizens made by black cops decrease.
Amid a growing interest in public service delivery, this dissertation presents three essays that show the varieties of public service bureaucracies interacting with citizens. The dissertation consists of one theoretical essay and two empirical chapters. The first essay develops a model to explain how frontline bureaucrats are motivated to engage in activities to help citizens and the extent of their behavior. This chapter is the first study that applies formal logic to the topic of street-level bureaucracy in the field of public administration.
The second essay investigates the demand side of public service delivery by examining how citizens’ prior expectations, existing perceptions, and post-disconfirmation influence their evaluation of public service performance. Findings suggest that people’s prior expectation on public service is positively related to their subsequent performance evaluation of the service. It turns out that citizens’ expectation also functions as a reference point when there are discrepancies between their expectations and lived experience. Furthermore, respondents’ overall perceptions of public service create a halo and thereby influence their subsequent appraisals of that service. Findings provide implications for understanding performance information reported from citizen surveys and for developing strategies to improve perceived service performance in the eyes of citizens.
Finally, the third essay examines the supply side of public service delivery by examining police officers’ law enforcement activities toward black citizens. Results suggest that when white officers comprise a greater percentage of a force, African American cops on that force are more likely to warn, cite, and arrest black citizens; however, when black officers form a high enough percentage of a force, warnings, citations, and arrests of black citizens made by black cops decrease.