IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/reggov/v17y2023i4p1058-1075.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does appealability foster more citizen‐friendly decisions at the street level?

Author

Listed:
  • Sagi Gershgoren
  • Nissim Cohen

Abstract

Unbiased conduct is an essential part of the social contract between the state and its citizens. Yet, when tasked with settling disputes between citizens and other state officials, are public administrators truly impartial in their resolutions? Such a question is vital for street‐level bureaucrats whom the public perceives as the face of governance. This study investigates the relations between the pro‐citizen tendencies in street‐level bureaucrats' resolutions, their internal appealability, and the discretionary space under which they are made. Using quantitative analysis of real‐world lower‐court rulings in Israeli tax disputes between 1980 and 2021, the research findings indicate that unregulated expansion of street‐level bureaucrats' discretionary space relates to favoring the state's arguments in their resolutions and may impair procedural fairness. The findings also imply that regulation promoting citizens' right to appeal such resolutions within their agency, can increase street‐level bureaucrats' pro‐citizen tendencies and potentially counteract such outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Sagi Gershgoren & Nissim Cohen, 2023. "Does appealability foster more citizen‐friendly decisions at the street level?," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), pages 1058-1075, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:17:y:2023:i:4:p:1058-1075
    DOI: 10.1111/rego.12503
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12503
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/rego.12503?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:17:y:2023:i:4:p:1058-1075. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-5991 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.