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The Effect of Administrative Burden on Bureaucratic Perception of Policies: Evidence from Election Administration
Author(s) -
Burden Barry C.,
Ca David T.,
Mayer Kenneth R.,
Moynihan Donald P.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
public administration review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.721
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1540-6210
pISSN - 0033-3352
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2012.02600.x
Subject(s) - bureaucracy , opposition (politics) , administration (probate law) , public administration , perception , proposition , preference , public economics , political science , economics , psychology , politics , microeconomics , law , philosophy , epistemology , neuroscience
This article argues that administrative burden—that is, an individual's experience of policy implementation as onerous—is an important consideration for administrators and influences their views on policy and governance options. The authors test this proposition in the policy area of election administration using a mixed‐method assessment of local election officials. They find that the perceived administrative burden of policies is associated with a preference to shift responsibilities to others, perceptions of greater flaws and lesser merit in policies that have created the burden (to the point that such judgments are demonstrably wrong), and opposition to related policy innovations .