Research team
Expertise
Dr. Bjorn Kleizen conducts research into citizen costs of government procedures, for example within the context of the PFOS crisis and the Dutch Childcare Benefits Affair. In doing so, he focuses in particular on the accumulated effects of multiple interactions with governments, which can sometimes last for years. His projects look at both psychological and political-scientific outcomes. For example, to what extent do citizens experience stress and exhaustion as a result of their procedures? And under what conditions do procedures affect trust in government? Dr Bjorn Kleizen previously completed projects on digitalization and reforms in governmental organizations. Within the DIGI4FED project on digitalization, he was responsible for the working package on trust in government in the context of big data analytics. Until March 2020, he worked on his doctorate on the impact of repeated reforms on governmental organizations. More specifically, this doctoral project investigated the psychosocial impact of reforms, including its impact on organizational cultures, employee well-being and employee attitudes and behaviors. His methodological expertise includes econometric analyses (various types of regression model), interpretative qualitative methods and legal analyses (legal comparative research).
Will this ordeal ever end? How the accumulation of administrative encounters can erode trust in government and create psychological harm.
Abstract
Low levels of citizen trust in government are problematic. When citizens become cynical and alienated from the government, they may refuse to cooperate when called upon (such as in Covid-19 vaccine programs). Although we already know that citizens' administrative encounters with public services may affect trust, I argue that public administration has crucially overlooked the temporal perspective. Some citizens are not faced with single administrative encounters but with complex and protracted battles against sometimes multiple administrative or judicial entities. I propose that we focus specifically on such accumulated encounters and their results. Such accumulated experiences may exacerbate negative perceptions of procedural fairness and outcome favorability, ultimately affecting trust. Moreover, I propose that more attention to the psychological costs of encounters is essential when taking such a temporal perspective. Protracted procedures with impactful outcomes (e.g., on someone's livelihood) will be highly stressful for citizens. The resultant psychological strain may exacerbate their negative perceptions of the procedure, which may spill over into general mistrust of government. The project proposes an original combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis to gain a thorough and robust insight into the trust dynamics of accumulated administrative encounters.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Van Dooren Wouter
- Fellow: Kleizen Bjorn
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project
Does performance reporting of public performance strengthen the trust and voice of citizens? An experimental study.
Abstract
In the last decades, rankings and performance information have found their way to all corners of the public sector. Recent Belgian examples are hospital quality indicators and plans for standardized testing in schools. The fascination of society for the COVID19 indicators also attests to the appeal of performance indicators. Less is known on how citizens use performance information and the effects of information on trust in government and citizens' willingness to raise their voice. This project, therefore, asks how different kinds of performance information are used by citizens and to what effect on voice and trust. We propose two extensive experiments to answer this question. In the first experiment, we design an online budget game to trigger active use of performance information. This experiment will be performed on a large sample in an online panel. The second experiment partly replicates the first but will use an eye tracker to have in-depth insights on how people process information. The results of the study will inform the debate on the desirability and design of performance reporting systems.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Van Dooren Wouter
- Co-promoter: Kleizen Bjorn
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project
Bureaucracy despite reforms: does a history of intensive structural reforms make public sector organizations more bureaucratic (again)?
Abstract
This project, funded by BOF (Special Research Fund) studies through quantitative and qualitative research the impact of reforms on the organizational climate in public sector organizations. The research is done by Bjorn Kleizen with Prof. dr. Koen Verhoest and dr. Jan Wynen as supervisors. The research does not deal with effects on individuals inside organisations.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Verhoest Koen
- Fellow: Kleizen Bjorn
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project