Administrative Burden: Untangling a Bowl of Conceptual Spaghetti

TY - JOUR

T1 - Administrative Burden: Untangling a Bowl of Conceptual Spaghetti

AU - Bækgaard, Martin

AU - Tankink, Tara

PY - 2022/3

Y1 - 2022/3

N2 - Administrative burdens in citizen-state interactions are increasingly gaining attention in both research and practice. However, being a relatively young research field, there is still considerable disagreement about how to conceptualize and measure administrative burdens. In particular, burdens are sometimes equated with what the state does, and other times with what target group members experience. We argue that such disagreement is a barrier for further theoretical development and has removed focus from studying the process in which state actions are converted into individual outcomes. We provide advice on how to conceptually bridge the gap between different conceptualizations of administrative burden and lay out a research agenda covering the next important theoretical and empirical steps based on such a shared understanding. We propose that developing the conceptual and empirical foundation of administrative burden research will help asking new and important research questions and building cumulative knowledge. To illustrate these points, we present a series of new research questions for future research to engage with.

AB - Administrative burdens in citizen-state interactions are increasingly gaining attention in both research and practice. However, being a relatively young research field, there is still considerable disagreement about how to conceptualize and measure administrative burdens. In particular, burdens are sometimes equated with what the state does, and other times with what target group members experience. We argue that such disagreement is a barrier for further theoretical development and has removed focus from studying the process in which state actions are converted into individual outcomes. We provide advice on how to conceptually bridge the gap between different conceptualizations of administrative burden and lay out a research agenda covering the next important theoretical and empirical steps based on such a shared understanding. We propose that developing the conceptual and empirical foundation of administrative burden research will help asking new and important research questions and building cumulative knowledge. To illustrate these points, we present a series of new research questions for future research to engage with.

KW - POLICIES

KW - POLITICS

KW - STATE

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124619933&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1093/ppmgov/gvab027

DO - 10.1093/ppmgov/gvab027

M3 - Journal article

SN - 2398-4929

VL - 5

SP - 16

EP - 21

JO - Perspectives on Public Management and Governance

JF - Perspectives on Public Management and Governance

IS - 1

M1 - 027

ER -