What's representation got to do with it? Comparing public reactions to diversity among government employees and government contractors

Author:

Baker Keith1ORCID,Rubin Ellen V2ORCID,Weinberg Stephen2,Stout Christopher T3

Affiliation:

1. SUNY Brockport

2. University at Albany, State University of New York

3. Oregon State University

Abstract

The literature on representative bureaucracy is largely focused on government agencies and little attention has been paid to representation within private sector contractors providing services on behalf of government. A survey experiment, administered on a nationally representative panel collected by YouGov, is used to assess whether the public evaluates the distributive justice of government programs differently if the programs are implemented by either contractors or government officials, and whether this changes when the public is provided information on the diversity of those actors. We find that perceptions of distributive justice are no different with government or contractor delivery, nor do they change in response to diversity information. The findings imply that perceptions of distributive justice may only vary between contractors and government, and in response to diversity information, when the public are presented with information about program failure or obvious inequities. Points for practitioners Nationally representative survey data indicates that the general public may be more concerned with program failure rather than the demographic composition of the organization that delivers the service. When performance is the same between government and private contractors, the public views the program outcomes as equally fair. Diversity, on its own, is not enough to enhance the public's assessment of government decisions. When engaging with different communities, managers should remember that perceptions of government may be informed by assumptions about who may benefit from government programs and racial stereotypes.

Funder

Russell Sage Foundation

Publisher

SAGE Publications

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3