The Impact of client status on street-level bureaucrats’ identity and informal accountability

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Gatvės lygio biurokratija; Administracinis tapatumas; Pilietis-klientas; Neoficiali atskaitomybė; Street-level bureaucracy; Administrative identity; Citizen-client; Informal accountability.

ENCombining assumptions from the theory of street-level bureaucracy, sociological theory of identity, and grid-group cultural theory, this article first provides an analytical model and typology of administrative identities of frontline public servants. Then qualitative data analysis is done by drawing upon the observations and interview conducted at the State Tax Inspectorate and the Social Security agencies in Lithuania. Research data show that weak discretion does not narrow the variety of administrative identities. Manifestation of informal accountability of street-level bureaucrats to an individual citizen-client as a constitutive part of an administrative identity most clearly appears in interaction with those clients who are considered socially vulnerable. Informal accountability to citizen-clients is especially limited when it is combined with other identity attitudes, such as rigid manner of rule application and limited empathy toward citizen-clients. [From the publication]

• Beyond the front-line: the coping strategies and discretion of Lithuanian street-level bureaucracy during COVID-19 / Remigijus Civinskas, Jaroslav Dvorak, Gintaras Šumskas. Corvinus journal of sociology and social policy. 2021, 12, 1, p. 3-28.
• Medikai ir socialinių paslaugų teikėjai - COVID-19 sukeltos krizės politikų priešakinėse linijose: darbo salygos, jų poveikis, elgsena / Remigijus Civinskas, Jaroslav Dvorak, Gintaras Šumskas. Regional formation and development studies. 2021, Nr. 1 (33), p. 6-16.