Serving Multiple Masters? Public Managers’ Role Perceptions in Participatory Budgeting

Abstract

Participatory budgeting is fast becoming a popular form of public participation. Public managers play an important role in organizing and implementing participatory budgeting. Their role perceptions affect whether they use their discretion to limit or increase residents’ say in participatory processes. However, we know little about public managers’ role perceptions in participatory budgeting. In this study, we develop a typology of public managers’ role perceptions in participatory budgeting using a Q-methodological analysis of public managers in seven municipal participatory budgeting projects in Belgium. We find evidence for four distinct perspectives: a managerial, citizen-centered, technocratic, and skeptical perspective.