Clients' Help Deservingness, Crowd Situational Stress And Discretionary Decision-making: An Experimental Study Of Regulatory Street-level Bureaucrats In China

• Published in: International public management journal Vol. 24; no. 2; pp. 287 - 312
• Main Authors: Lu, Xiaoli, Xu, Hao, Wang, Weijie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stamford Routledge 04.03.2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Bureaucrats; Clients; Crowding stress; Decision making; Research subjects
• ISSN: 1096-7494; 1559-3169
• DOI: 10.1080/10967494.2019.1661892

Following the publication of Lipsky's classic study, a large body of literature has explored the determinants of street-level bureaucrats' discretion. Among these determinants, clients' help deservingness has been widely studied as a salient factor in service delivery contexts, which may differ from the contexts in which regulatory street-level bureaucrats operate. Another factor, situational stress, has not drawn much attention yet in experimental studies. This article examines the impact of clients' help deservingness, situational stress, and their interaction effects on street-level bureaucrats' discretion based on the results of an experimental study conducted in a regulatory context. The experimental subjects were Chengguan officers who are typical Chinese street-level bureaucrats responsible for urban affairs management. Our results suggest that clients' help deservingness affects discretionary decision making, which is consistent with previous research. Countering conventional thinking, this study found that situational stress alone does not influence Chengguan officers' discretionary decision making, but it weakens the effect of clients' help deservingness.