Date: 2023
Type: Article
A behavioral view on responsibility attribution in multi-level governance : upward and downward responsibility attribution in response to performance below aspirations
Public administration, 2023, OnlineFirst
VAN DER VOET, Joris, RIMKUTE, Dovile, A behavioral view on responsibility attribution in multi-level governance : upward and downward responsibility attribution in response to performance below aspirations, Public administration, 2023, OnlineFirst
- https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75944
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
Multi-level governance systems provide decision-makers with many avenues for external responsibility attribution in response to lacking performance. This study provides a behavioral perspective that examines responsibility attribution to the national government (upward) and policy implementers (downward) as a function of performance relative to decision-makers' aspiration levels. The study proposes that perceived accountability increases the propensity of external responsibility attribution, and that decision-makers' political alignment to actors on other governance levels explains when responsibility is deflected upwards or downwards. Using a survey experiment that presents factual information on youth care overspending to 1086 elected local government officials, the study finds consistent evidence that performance below aspirations increases upward responsibility attribution. Accountability strengthens responsibility attribution for negative performance downward to policy implementers. Finally, responsibility is attributed upward less frequently by decision-makers who are politically aligned with the national government, but information that signals performance below aspirations attenuates this tendency.
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75944
Full-text via DOI: 10.1111/padm.12892
ISSN: 0033-3298; 1467-9299
Publisher: Wiley
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