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Will citizens take no for an answer? What government officials can do to enhance decision acceptance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2010

Peter Esaiasson
Peter Esaiasson*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
*
* E-mail: Peter.Esaiasson@pol.gu.se
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Abstract

To what extent can the conduct of government officials help make unfavourable decisions acceptable to those that are affected by them? To provide an answer to this under-explored question, this paper presents findings from two scenario experiments that allow the conduct of individual officials to vary according to a pre-determined standard, while keeping an unfavourable decision constant in a setting that approaches the real world. There are three main findings. First, both actual conduct and perceived fairness of treatment affect decision acceptance. Second, actual conduct matters much less for decision acceptance than perceived fairness of treatment. Third, citizens’ beliefs about the moral right to a favourable outcome condition the effect of actual conduct (but not of perceived treatment fairness). In particular, morally disappointed citizens are less likely to accept the decision irrespective of how they are treated.

Keywords

decision acceptanceprocedural fairnessopinion-policy researchlegitimacy beliefsadministrative behaviour
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , November 2010 , pp. 351 - 371
Copyright
Copyright © European Consortium for Political Research 2010

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