Citizen involvement efforts and bureaucratic responsiveness: Participatory values, stakeholder pressures, and administrative practicality

Abstract

This article addresses the efforts of local governments to involve citizens in administrative processes. In particular, we explore the following questions: What social and political groups in the community promote citizen involvement? Which groups awre likely to succeed? What barriers obstruct citizen involvement efforts? Do administrative attitudes make a difference in undertaking citizen involvement? Using survey data, this study tests a framework that assumes the decision to involve citizens in administrative processes reflects administrative responsiveness to salient community stakeholders, normative values associated with citizen involvement, and administrative practicality. The statistical results confirm the bureaucratic responsiveness framework and point to future directions for citizen involvement research and practice.