The Influence of Legal Mandates on Public Participation

• Author: Jared Olsen,Mary K. Feeney
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/02750740221123105
• Published date: 01 October 2022
• Date: 01 October 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

The Inf‌luence of Legal Mandates

on Public Participation

Jared Olsen and Mary K. Feeney

Abstract

Legal mandates are a common mechanism to stimulate government agencies to engage the public. Research shows managerial

efforts can also affect civic engagement. We f‌irst examine whether local government departments that are legally mandated to

engage the public have more public participation than departments that are not mandated to do so. We then explore the

relationship between manager perceptions of public participation and the frequency of public participation. Finally, we analyze

the interactive effect of legal mandates and managerial perceptions. To investigate our research questions, we use regression

models on data from a 2018 nationally representative survey of 527 local government managers in the United States. The

results indicate legal mandates are not signif‌icantly related to public participation, but managerial perceptions are a key factor.

These f‌indings support pursuing a managerial approach to advance public participation in local government.

Keywords

public administration, citizen participation, local and urban public administration/governance, e-government

Modern democracies are premised on the belief that the will

of the people empowers government and that public organi-

zations have a responsibility to involve citizens in public

decision-making. Public participation, def‌ined as the pro-

cesses by which citizens seek to inf‌luence government

decision-making (Nabatchi & Leighninger, 2015), aims to

democratize bureaucratic institutions. The positive view of

public participation suggests that governments can engage

the public to develop more lasting, appropriate, and effective

public services that embody the will of the people

(Moynihan, 2003; Wang, 2001). The negative view of

public participation in government posits that involving the

general public in bureaucratic processes can slow or hinder

important organizational performance considerations such

as organizational eff‌iciency and effectiveness (Burke &

Clarey, 1989). Some argue governments that engage the

public minimize the role of expertise in favor of majority

rule and popularity (Cleveland, 1985; Moynihan, 2003;

Predmore et al., 2011).

Research has shown that public participation in govern-

ment—which takes many forms including goal setting,

policy making, oversight, and decision making—can lead

public organizations to be more democratic (Wang, 2001).

A national study of city governments in the United States

(US) found that public participation led to a greater consen-

sus among citizens and accountability in local government

(Wang & Wart, 2007). Public participation enables govern-

ments to identify community needs that were previously

unrecognized (Wang, 2001). For example, when there is

widespread community dissatisfaction citizens get directly

involved in improving public services (Vigoda, 2002).

Research, in general, indicates that the public can make gov-

ernment decisions more ref‌lective of the public will and

improve government accountability and transparency.

Legal mandates are a common mechanism used to stimu-

late public participation in government (Brody et al., 2003;

Chess, 2000; Duram & Brown, 1999; Mitton et al., 2009).

Legal mandates refer to laws passed by federal, state, and

local legislatures that require government agencies, depart-

ments, and organizations to involve the public in policy

and decision-making processes (Brody et al., 2003; Bryson

et al., 2013; Godschalk et al., 2003). These mandates

require government actors to engage the public through activ-

ities such as public hearings (Berner, 2001; Ringholm et al.,

2018), citizen interviews (Ghose, 2005), or public notices

(Brody et al., 2003). Legal mandates are used in many coun-

tries. For example, the European Union has mandated public

involvement in natural resource planning (Newig & Koontz,

2014; van der Heijden & ten Heuvelhof, 2013) and, in the

2000s, the Chinese government mandated the development

of public participation programs in environmental policy-

making (Johnson, 2010). The widespread use of legal

Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Corresponding Author:

Jared Olsen, Arizona State University, 411 N Central Ave Suite 450,

Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA.

Email: jolsen14@asu.edu

Article

American Review of Public Administration

2022, Vol. 52(7) 486–497

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/02750740221123105

journals.sagepub.com/home/arp