Citizen Attributions of Blame in Third-Party Governance

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Marvel, John D.; Girth, Amanda M.
• 署名单位: George Mason University; University System of Ohio; Ohio State University
• 刊物名称: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-3352
• DOI: 10.1111/puar.12474
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 96-108
• 关键词: POLITICAL CONTROL; ACCOUNTABILITY; management; GOVERNMENT; DESIGN; AGENCY

摘要

The authors use a survey experiment to examine how structural differences in governance arrangements affect citizens' notions of who is culpable for poor service quality. More specifically, two questions are investigated: (1) When things go wrong, do citizens attribute more blame to political actors if the provider of government services is a public agency or a private contractor? (2) Does the length of the accountability chain linking political actors to service providers influence citizens' attributions of blame? The authors hypothesize that provider sector and accountability chain length affect citizens' perceptions of political actors' control over service delivery, which, in turn, inform citizens' attributions of blame. Mixed support is found for this theory.