The Role of Organizational and Client Reactions in Understanding Representative Bureaucracy

• Published date: 01 February 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/02750740231200448
• Author: Maayan Davidovitz,Tamar Shwartz-Ziv
• Date: 01 February 2024

The Role of Organizational and Client

Reactions in Understanding

Representative Bureaucracy

Maayan Davidovitz

1,2

and Tamar Shwartz-Ziv

3

Abstract

The public administration literature has long observed the efforts of street-level bureaucrats to actively represent the clients

with whom they share a social or demographic identity. However, it has not examined the responses that street-level bureau-

crats receive when they represent minorities and how these responses shape how they use discretion in implementing pol-

icies. We explore these issues empirically through in-depth interviews with 23 Israeli Arab social and community workers and

32 Israeli LGBTQ+teachers. This exploratory study reveals the variety of reactions that street-level bureaucrats encounter

when representing minorities. Furthermore, it highlights the signif‌icant role of reactions from clients and organizations in

encouraging, reducing, or impeding the efforts of minority street-level bureaucrats to represent those with whom they

share an identity, which, in turn, underscores the importance of external responses for conf‌irming and legitimizing active

representation.

Keywords

representative bureaucracy, active representation, street-level bureaucrats, LGBTQ+, minority groups

Introduction

The theory of representative bureaucracy suggests that when

public administrators share a demographic or social identity

with their target population, thereby representing them pas-

sively, they will actively try to promote their interests when

they implement public policy (Riccucci et al., 2016). Doing

so allows disadvantaged citizens to be represented, which ben-

ef‌its democratic governance (Kingsley, 1944). Most of the

research on representative bureaucracy focuses on race and

gender, and deals with representativeness in the context of

street-level bureaucrats (Bishu & Kennedy, 2020; Kennedy,

2014; Marvel & Resh, 2015; Nicholson-Crottyet al., 2016;

Selden, 1997). Their extensive discretion in implementing

policy plays a signif‌icant role in the transition between

passive and active representation.

Prior studies have highlighted the role of institutional and

organizational characteristics in determining if and how

passive representation translates into active representation

(Meier, 2019; Wilkins & Williams, 2008). Others have

noted that passive representation may be enough to satisfy

citizens, increase their trust in the system, and make them

feel that they are participating in it through symbolic repre-

sentation (Groeneveld et al., 2015; Riccucci et al., 2018).

We conclude that street-level bureaucrats who are members

of minority groups constantly encounter various reactions

from different actors in the implementation arena when

they are engaged in active representation efforts.

Therefore, in this exploratory study, our goal is to examine

the impact of the reactions that street-level bureaucrats receive

when they represent clients with whom they share a demo-

graphic or social identity. Do these responses play a role in

how street-level bureaucrats use their discretion when imple-

menting policy and in their desire to continue representing

these clients?If so, how is this expressed? We argue that exter-

nal reactions have a strong impact on the tendency of street-

level bureaucrats to represent minority clients.

We examined our questions using a qualitative study,

based on semi-structured interviews with 55 Israeli social

service providers representing two minority groups: Israeli

Arab social welfare and community workers and LGBTQ+

teachers. These two case studies are particularly interesting

because they provide important empirical insights into

1

Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University,

New York, NY, USA

2

The Center for Public Management and Policy (CPMP), School of Political

Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

3

Department of Political Science, Hunter College, City University of

New York, New York, NY, USA

All authors contributed equally for this article.

Corresponding Author:

Maayan Davidovitz, Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York

University, New York, NY, USA.

Email: maayandavidovitz@gmail.com

Article

American Review of Public Administration

2024, Vol. 54(2) 151–162

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/02750740231200448

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