Public Participation in Policy Making: Evidence from a Citizen Advisory Panel

Abstract

Research on mechanisms that lead to the successful involvement of citizens, particularly citizen advisory panels, in policy-making processes is limited. In this paper, we use unique longitudinal data to examine how power and information asymmetries within a citizen advisory group influence a policy-making process and its outcomes. We studied the case of a public hospital where the hospital management involved a citizen advisory panel (CAP) and the general public to help decide what hospital services should be cut. We found that female CAP members perceived more power asymmetry while male CAP members experienced more process satisfaction. Older CAP members perceived more information asymmetry. Our findings show that the policy-making management team’s commitment to the process can reduce skepticism by citizens regarding the value of their involvement and facilitate decision quality and process satisfaction. Policy makers were able to effectively share technical policy information with citizens in an easily digestible format over time and to achieve effective citizen participation in the policy-making process.

KEYWORDS::

• Public participation
• citizen advisory panel
• policy process
• longitudinal data
• case study

Disclosure statement

All authors declare that no conflicts of interest exist.

Notes

1 Each item’s highest secondary loading was below its primary loading by at least 0.1.

2 We also conducted Harman’s one-factor test (Podsakoff et al., 2003), Lindell and Whitney’s (2001) marker variable test, the CFA marker technique (Richardson et al., 2009), and the unmeasured latent method construct approach (Williams et al., 1989; Chin et al., 2012) to test for common method variance. The results of these tests indicated that common method variance is not an issue.

Additional information

Funding

Research ethics clearance was received from the Queen’s University General Research Ethics Board [GBUS-242-09].

Notes on contributors

Yolande E. Chan

Yolande E. Chan is Dean and James McGill Professor at Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University. She holds degrees from Western University, Oxford University and MIT. She publishes in top journals and is co-Editor-in Chief of Journal of Strategic Information Systems. She is a Fellow and Distinguished Cum Laude member of the Association for Information Systems.

Rashmi Krishnamurthy

Rashmi Krishnamurthy is a Research Associate at the Diversity Institute and Adjunct Professor at Queen’s University. Her research focuses diversity and inclusion, digital technologies, and entrepreneurship. She has published articles in MIS Quarterly Executive, Cities, International Journal of Information Management, and Information Polity, among others. She received her Ph.D. in Public Administration & Policy from Arizona State University.

Janelle Mann

Janelle Mann is a Professor at the University of Manitoba where she researches applied econometrics with a specific interest in modeling asymmetric relationships. She has published papers in Empirical Economics, Energy Economics, Environmental and Resource Economics, and the Canadian Journal of Economics amongst others. She received her Ph.D. in Business Economics from Queen’s University.

Rajiv Sabherwal

Rajiv Sabherwal is Distinguished Professor, Edwin & Karlee Bradberry Chair, and Department Chair (information systems) in the Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas. He frequently publishes on the management, use, and impacts of information technology in prestigious journals. He is a Fellow of both IEEE and Association for Information Systems.