Does Disclosure of Performance Information Influence Street-level Bureaucrats' Enforcement Style?
TL;DR: In this article, a survey among Dutch inspectors of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority showed that disclosure of performance information has an impact on enforcement style at the street level, and that perceived disclosed performance information positively enhances all three dimensions of street-level bureaucrats' enforcement style.
Abstract: Governments use different regulatory instruments to ensure that businesses owners or "inspectees" comply with rules and regulations. One tool that is increasingly applied is disclosing inspectees' performance information to other stakeholders. Disclosing performance information has consequences for street-level bureaucrats because it increases the visibility of their day-to-day work. Using a survey (n =507) among Dutch inspectors of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, this article shows that the disclosure of performance information has an impact on enforcement style at the street level. Findings show that perceived disclosed performance information positively enhances all three dimensions of street-level bureaucrats' enforcement style (legal, facilitation, and accommodation). This effect is strongest for facilitation and accommodation and weakest for the legal style. Perceived resistance by inspectees partly explains this effect. Contrary to expectations, more perceived disclosure does not result in more but in less perceived resistance of inspectees by street-level bureaucrats.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: The Blame Game: Spin, Bureaucracy and Self-Preservation in Government by Christopher Hood Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2010, 242 pp., $39.95, ISBN 9780691129952 (hbk) The blame game...
Abstract: The Blame Game: Spin, Bureaucracy, and Self-Preservation in Government By Christopher Hood Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2010, 242 pp., $39.95, ISBN 9780691129952 (hbk) The blame game ...
75 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: This article used responsive regulation as a framework for an empirical study of the impact of non-anonymous publication of sanctions in the Dutch financial market and found that naming offenders functions as a general deterrent in the market for financial intermediaries but considerably less so in the capital market.
Abstract: Enforcement agencies increasingly disclose or “name and shame” corporate offenders. This article uses responsive regulation as a framework for an empirical study of the impact of non-anonymous publication of sanctions in the Dutch financial market. These publications are characterized as “naming without shaming”, because they are used for technical guidance rather than with the intention to shame. The findings show that naming offenders functions as a general deterrent in the market for financial intermediaries, but considerably less so in the capital market. In both markets, the publication of sanctions weakened the impact of enforcement. In the capital market, the publications neutralized the seriousness of offenses and contributed to the image of the regulator as powerless. In the market for financial intermediaries, naming offenders was perceived as stigmatizing shaming and led to defiance, rather than compliance. The case study suggests, however, that the publication of sanctions may provide an opportunity for guidance, provided they contain a moral message, rather than technical instruction.
40 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the extent to which inspectors perceive government transparency as impacting regulatory performance was investigated and it was found that when inspectors perceive an increase in transparency, they find that the perceived relational distance between themselves and their inspectees rises and this, subsequently, increases regulatory performance.
Abstract: This study investigates the extent to which inspectors perceive government transparency as impacting regulatory performance. It theorizes that when inspectors perceive an increase in transparency, they find that the perceived relational distance between themselves and their inspectees rises and this, subsequently, increases regulatory performance. The findings from a survey among Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority inspectors (n = 466) confirm that inspectors view an increase in transparency as enhancing regulatory performance. This study further investigates this mechanism by comparing two divisions with different levels of factual relational distance (i.e., frequency of inspector–inspectee interactions). The findings reveal that only in the division with small factual relational distance does perceived relational distance mediate the effect of transparency on regulatory performance. More specifically, in divisions with small factual relational distance, more perceived transparency increases perceived relational distance; this in turn, increases perceived regulatory performance.
25 citations
Cites background or result from "Does Disclosure of Performance Info..."
...…is needed to understand the implications of increasing relational distance at the street level, for instance, in terms of bureaucrats' engagement in policy design (see Lavee et al. 2018), policy alienation (see Van Engen et al. 2016) and enforcement style (see de Boer et al. 2018; de Boer 2018)....
[...]
...Governments are increasingly making information transparent about their own and inspectees' regulatory performance (see Grimmelikhuijsen and Welch 2012; Van Dooren and Van de Walle 2016; de Boer et al. 2018)....
[...]
...The items were revised in light of the feedback from the expert interviews, and the survey was distributed after the final set was approved to suit the context of street-level bureaucrats and their day-to-day enforcement (see also de Boer, 2018; de Boer et al., 2018)....
[...]
...De Boer et al. (2018) studied the effect of perceived government transparency on the perceived resistance of inspectees by inspectors and their enforcement style during face-to-face encounters with inspectees....
[...]
...In sum, inspectors take the view that government transparency reduces resistance of inspectees (de Boer et al. 2018) and thus contributes positively to ensuring compliance and assessing social risks (Meijer and Homburg 2009; de Boer et al. 2018)....
[...]
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of decision transparency in general and rationale transparency in regulatory agencies was investigated. And they found that the overall effect of transparency is positive but that the nature of the regulatory domain may weaken or strengthen this effect.
Abstract: Decision transparency is often proposed as a way to maintain or even increase citizen trust, yet this assumption is still untested in the context of regulatory agencies. We test the effect of transparency of a typical decision tradeoff in regulatory enforcement: granting forbearance or imposing a sanction. We employed a representative survey experiment (n = 1,546) in which we test the effect of transparency in general (providing information about a decision or not) and the effect of specific types of transparency (process or rationale transparency). We do this for agencies supervising financial markets, education, and health care. We find that overall decision transparency significantly increases citizen trust in only two of the three agencies. Rationale transparency has a more pronounced positive effect only for the Education Inspectorate. We conclude that the overall effect of decision transparency is positive but that the nature of the regulatory domain may weaken or strengthen this effect.
25 citations
Cites background from "Does Disclosure of Performance Info..."
...Like other (semi)governmental bodies, regulatory agencies have come under some pressure to disclose information about their methods, procedures, and decisions with the idea of fostering accountability and trust (e.g. Porumbescu 2015; de Vries 2016; de Boer et al. 2018)....
[...]
TL;DR: This study contributes to more validated measurement instruments by presenting a 13-item measure that can be used to study street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style and its underlying dimensions by developing and validating a multidimensional measurement scale.
Abstract: This study investigates street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style and its underlying dimensions by developing and validating a multidimensional measurement scale. Developing a measurement scale for enforcement style is relevant because the number of underlying dimensions is contested and studies developing measurement scales are scarce. This complicates cross-sector and cross-national comparisons. Using a survey among inspectors of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority, street-level enforcement style is found to comprising three dimensions: (1) legal, (2) facilitation, and (3) accommodation. This study contributes to more validated measurement instruments by presenting a 13-item measure that can be used to study street-level bureaucrats’ enforcement style.
22 citations
Cites background from "Does Disclosure of Performance Info..."
...…for instance, investigate the effects of streetlevel enforcement style of other street-level bureaucrats on ways of implementing public policies (Mascini & Wijk, 2009) and their interactions with inspectees (de Boer et al., 2018; de Boer & Eshuis, in press; Etienne, 2013; Pautz &Wamsley, 2012)....
[...]
...Future research could explore roles of other external stakeholders for the enforcement styles of street-level bureaucrats (e.g. de Boer et al., 2018; de Boer and Eshuis, in press) or study variations within the enforcement style of inspectors and other cognitive behaviors (e.g. Tummers et al.,…...
[...]
References
More filters
TL;DR: In this article, the adequacy of the conventional cutoff criteria and several new alternatives for various fit indexes used to evaluate model fit in practice were examined, and the results suggest that, for the ML method, a cutoff value close to.95 for TLI, BL89, CFI, RNI, and G...
Abstract: This article examines the adequacy of the “rules of thumb” conventional cutoff criteria and several new alternatives for various fit indexes used to evaluate model fit in practice. Using a 2‐index presentation strategy, which includes using the maximum likelihood (ML)‐based standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR) and supplementing it with either Tucker‐Lewis Index (TLI), Bollen's (1989) Fit Index (BL89), Relative Noncentrality Index (RNI), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Gamma Hat, McDonald's Centrality Index (Mc), or root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA), various combinations of cutoff values from selected ranges of cutoff criteria for the ML‐based SRMR and a given supplemental fit index were used to calculate rejection rates for various types of true‐population and misspecified models; that is, models with misspecified factor covariance(s) and models with misspecified factor loading(s). The results suggest that, for the ML method, a cutoff value close to .95 for TLI, BL89, CFI, RNI, and G...
76,383 citations
TL;DR: The extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results is examined, potential sources of method biases are identified, the cognitive processes through which method bias influence responses to measures are discussed, the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases is evaluated, and recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and Statistical remedies are provided.
Abstract: Interest in the problem of method biases has a long history in the behavioral sciences. Despite this, a comprehensive summary of the potential sources of method biases and how to control for them does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results, identify potential sources of method biases, discuss the cognitive processes through which method biases influence responses to measures, evaluate the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases, and provide recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and statistical remedies for different types of research settings.
52,531 citations
"Does Disclosure of Performance Info..." refers background or methods in this paper
...Second, a common latent factor model was estimated (Podsakoff et al. 2003)....
[...]
...First, a confirmatory factor analysis was carried out (Podsakoff et al. 2003)....
[...]
Book•
27 May 1998TL;DR: The book aims to provide the skills necessary to begin to use SEM in research and to interpret and critique the use of method by others.
Abstract: Designed for students and researchers without an extensive quantitative background, this book offers an informative guide to the application, interpretation and pitfalls of structural equation modelling (SEM) in the social sciences. The book covers introductory techniques including path analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, and provides an overview of more advanced methods such as the evaluation of non-linear effects, the analysis of means in convariance structure models, and latent growth models for longitudinal data. Providing examples from various disciplines to illustrate all aspects of SEM, the book offers clear instructions on the preparation and screening of data, common mistakes to avoid and widely used software programs (Amos, EQS and LISREL). The book aims to provide the skills necessary to begin to use SEM in research and to interpret and critique the use of method by others.
42,102 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify six categories of self-reports and discuss such problems as common method variance, the consistency motif, and social desirability, as well as statistical and post hoc remedies and some procedural methods for dealing with artifactual bias.
14,482 citations
TL;DR: The aims behind the development of the lavaan package are explained, an overview of its most important features are given, and some examples to illustrate how lavaan works in practice are provided.
Abstract: Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a vast field and widely used by many applied researchers in the social and behavioral sciences. Over the years, many software packages for structural equation modeling have been developed, both free and commercial. However, perhaps the best state-of-the-art software packages in this field are still closed-source and/or commercial. The R package lavaan has been developed to provide applied researchers, teachers, and statisticians, a free, fully open-source, but commercial-quality package for latent variable modeling. This paper explains the aims behind the development of the package, gives an overview of its most important features, and provides some examples to illustrate how lavaan works in practice.
14,401 citations