TY - JOUR
T1 - Are all burdens bad? Disentangling illegitimate administrative burdens through public value accounting
AU - Nisar, Muhammad Azfar
AU - Masood, Ayesha
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The University of Hong Kong.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Despite its usefulness for analysing the social equity footprint of policies and documenting citizens’ experiences of accessing social services, the present conceptualisation of administrative burden does not differentiate between necessary and unnecessary administrative burdens. As existing research tends to focus only on negative aspects of administrative burdens, it does not adequately account for their use as a countervailing force to achieve legitimate public values and prevent misuse of public resources. Using a public values accounting approach, this article outlines a framework to analyse the costs and benefits associated with public service delivery. In this formulation, administrative burden conceptualised as the monetary, time and psychological costs experienced by relevant stakeholders are balanced against specific public value benefits that a policy is supposed to achieve. In addition to allowing a more balanced analysis of costs and benefits associated with different policies, this approach helps identify illegitimate administrative burdens, that do not contribute to achieving relevant public values or can be reduced without compromising relevant public values. This approach not only contributes to adding more nuance and dimensionality to the theory of administrative burden but also increases its relevance to policymakers and other stakeholders.
AB - Despite its usefulness for analysing the social equity footprint of policies and documenting citizens’ experiences of accessing social services, the present conceptualisation of administrative burden does not differentiate between necessary and unnecessary administrative burdens. As existing research tends to focus only on negative aspects of administrative burdens, it does not adequately account for their use as a countervailing force to achieve legitimate public values and prevent misuse of public resources. Using a public values accounting approach, this article outlines a framework to analyse the costs and benefits associated with public service delivery. In this formulation, administrative burden conceptualised as the monetary, time and psychological costs experienced by relevant stakeholders are balanced against specific public value benefits that a policy is supposed to achieve. In addition to allowing a more balanced analysis of costs and benefits associated with different policies, this approach helps identify illegitimate administrative burdens, that do not contribute to achieving relevant public values or can be reduced without compromising relevant public values. This approach not only contributes to adding more nuance and dimensionality to the theory of administrative burden but also increases its relevance to policymakers and other stakeholders.
KW - administrative burden
KW - policy implementation
KW - public values
KW - word
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133030137&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1080/23276665.2022.2088581
DO - 10.1080/23276665.2022.2088581
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85133030137
SN - 2327-6665
VL - 45
SP - 385
EP - 403
JO - Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration
JF - Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration
IS - 4
ER -