Cream-skimming at the frontline: The role of administrative literacy

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Doring, Matthias; Jilke, Sebastian
• 署名单位: University of Southern Denmark; Georgetown University
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3298
• DOI: 10.1111/padm.12900
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 1569-1586
• 关键词: public professionals; social equity; welfare; coproduction; ENCOUNTERS; interpret; bureaucrats; PERSPECTIVE; motivation; services

摘要

The notion of cream-skimming-defined as the propensity to prioritize clients who have a higher likelihood of meeting bureaucratic success criteria, including organizational goals-is at the heart of street-level bureaucracies. However, there is often no direct information available to street-level bureaucrats whether clients will actually meet bureaucratic success criteria. This study argues that street-level bureaucrats assess clients' potential to reach these criteria via their administrative literacy-a client's capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic information and services from public administrations-as displayed in social interactions. Therefore, this study elaborates on the role of clients' administrative literacy and its effects on cream-skimming behavior. Using data from two experiments, we show that public employees prioritize clients with higher levels of preparedness and effective communication strategies. These findings suggest that cream-skimming is not just a rational cost-benefit analysis, but strongly influenced by social dynamics within public encounters.