How do citizens assess street-level bureaucrats' warmth and competence? A typology and test

Abstract

Citizens encounter numerous street-level bureaucrats in their lifetime, but how do they assess the traits of the bureaucrats they meet? Understanding citizen assessments of bureaucrats is important, because they are not passive receivers of policies. First, this article explores citizens' classification of different types street-level bureaucrats based on their core task. Using a factorial survey (n = 580) three clusters of bureaucrats are found, namely (1) regulation-oriented; (2) service-oriented; and (3) oriented at both. Second, this article tests how these three types of bureaucrats' warmth and competence are assessed and tests whether the bureaucrats' gender matters. A between-subject experiment (n = 1602) reveals that regulation-oriented bureaucrats are assessed least competent and warm. Moreover, regardless of core task, female bureaucrats are assessed as warmer than males. Female and male bureaucrats are assessed equally competent. This article shows that bureaucrats are stereotyped by citizens and discusses the implications for public management literature.