Representation, reputation and expectations towards bureaucracy: experimental findings from a favela in Brazil

ABSTRACT

Symbolic representation and bureaucratic reputation both refer to perceptions of government agencies, but few studies have examined how these concepts interact. We employed a survey experiment in a Brazilian favela, a unique audience of vulnerable citizens defined by the intersectionality race, class, and spatial segregation, to probe how citizens perceive agencies with differing reputations (police versus public schools) when the agency leader is more or less representative of the favelados. We find representation enhances procedural justice expectations of the less reputable local police. Our findings highlight the relevance of representation when detrimental citizen-state encounters produce negative reputations for vulnerable citizens.

KEYWORDS:

• Symbolic representation
• bureaucratic reputation
• representative bureaucracy
• survey experiment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. https://odia.ig.com.br/rio-de-janeiro/2018/04/5531171-mp-denuncia-pms-por-tortura-e-roubo-na-rocinha.html

2. https://odia.ig.com.br/rio-de-janeiro/2018/04/5531171-mp-denuncia-pms-por-tortura-e-roubo-na-rocinha.html

3. http://memoriaglobo.globo.com/programas/jornalismo/coberturas/caso-amarildo/caso-amarildo-a-historia.htm

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_of_Amarildo_de_Souza

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa, Estado RJ (FAPERJ) [E_05/2015]; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior [88881.170872/2018-01].

Notes on contributors

André Dantas Cabral

André Dantas Cabral, PhD (2020) from the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE) at Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Brazil. His research interests focus in the intersection of bureaucratic representation and reputational studies, as well as political fiscal cycles and state autonomy.

Alketa Peci

Alketa Peci (corresponding author) PhD, is an Associate Professor of Public Management and Government at the Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE) at the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), Brazil. Her research interests relate with the study of bureaucracy and its contemporary transformations, particularly in the Latin American context, focusing on issues such as bureaucratic reputation, representation, autonomous bureaucracies, and collaborative networks. She is the editor-in-chief of the Brazilian Journal of Public Administration.

Gregg G. Van Ryzin

Gregg G. Van Ryzin, PhD, is a professor in the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA), Rutgers University, Newark, USA. His work applies experimental and behavioural methods to various issues in public management, including citizen satisfaction, coproduction, performance measurement, representative bureaucracy, and organizational behaviour. He is author (with Dahlia Remler) of Research Methods in Practice (SAGE) and editor (with Oliver James and Sebastian Jilke) of Experiments in Public Management Research (Cambridge).