It’s Not Merely About the Content: How Rules Are Communicated Matters to Perceived Administrative Burden

Martin Baekgaard, Matthias Döring, and Mette Kjærgaard Thomsen 'It´s not merely about the content: How rules are communicated matters to perceived administrative burden', Public Administration Review, Forthcoming

48 Pages Posted: 31 Oct 2023

See all articles by Martin Bækgaard

Martin Bækgaard

Aarhus University

Matthias Döring

University of Southern Denmark

Mette Kjærgaard Thomsen

University of Southern Denmark

Date Written: January 27, 2023

Abstract

Research suggests that citizens often abstain from taking up benefits for which they are eligible because of the costs of learning about how to apply for and the expected compliance and psychological costs associated with taking up benefits. But to what extent can perceptions and expectations of such burdens be altered simply by changing the way rules are communicated? Bridging literatures on administrative burden, communication theory, and cognitive psychology, we theorize and test the causal impact (using a pre-registered randomized survey experiment (N=2,243)) of two prominent aspects of rule communication: information structure and bureaucratic language. Our findings lend support to the expectation that especially bureaucratic language influences citizens’ perceptions of learning costs as well as their expectations of compliance – and to a lesser extent psychological – costs, even when the content of the rules communicated is the same.

Keywords: Administrative burden, Rule Communication, Bureaucratic language, Bureaucratese, Information structure

JEL Classification: I38

Suggested Citation

Bækgaard, Martin and Döring, Matthias and Thomsen, Mette Kjærgaard, It’s Not Merely About the Content: How Rules Are Communicated Matters to Perceived Administrative Burden (January 27, 2023). Martin Baekgaard, Matthias Döring, and Mette Kjærgaard Thomsen 'It´s not merely about the content: How rules are communicated matters to perceived administrative burden', Public Administration Review, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4589970 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4589970

Martin Bækgaard (Contact Author)

Aarhus University ( email )

Nordre Ringgade 1
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark

Matthias Döring

University of Southern Denmark ( email )

Mette Kjærgaard Thomsen

University of Southern Denmark ( email )

Campusvej 55
DK-5230 Odense, 5000
Denmark

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