What motivates street-level bureaucrats to implement the reforms of elected politicians?

• Published in: Policy and politics Vol. 49; no. 1; pp. 141 - 160
• Main Authors: Lee, Don S., Park, Soonae
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Policy Press 01.01.2021
• Subjects: Behavioural Public Policy; Bureaucratic Discretion; Bureaucrats; Civil service; Government employees; Local Government; Perceptions; Policy Implementation; Policy making; Politicians; Public policy; Reforms; South Korea; Street-Level Bureaucrats; Survey Experiment; survey experiment; street-level bureaucrats; South Korea; policy implementation; behavioural public policy; local government; bureaucratic discretion; reforms
• ISSN: 0305-5736; 1470-8442
• DOI: 10.1332/030557320X15955052478653

The aim of this article is to explore the motivations of street-level bureaucrats when implementing change initiated by elected politicians. We analyse experimental data on more than 1,800 local civil servants from all 243 local governments in South Korea and find that street-level bureaucrats are more likely to implement change instigated by local elected politicians when their own policy positions are reflected in the reforms. Moreover, the degree to which street-level bureaucrats are likely to execute reforms instigated by local politicians is greater when bureaucrats perceive themselves as having more freedom to exercise discretion. These findings reveal a behavioural insight into the conditions in which bureaucrats are more likely to respond to change championed by elected politicians versus conditions where they are more likely to follow existing rules in the policy implementation process.