An Examination of Street-Level Bureaucrats’ Discretion and the Moderating Role of Supervisory Support: Evidence from the Field

Mohammed Salah Hassan, Raja Noriza Raja Ariffin, Norma Mansor and Hussam Al Halbusi
Additional contact information
Mohammed Salah Hassan: Department of Administrative Studies and Politics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Raja Noriza Raja Ariffin: Department of Administrative Studies and Politics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Norma Mansor: Social Wellbeing Research Centre (SWRC), University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Hussam Al Halbusi: Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia

Administrative Sciences, 2021, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: This study aims to provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between the discretion of street-level bureaucrats and their willingness to implement as well as between discretion and client meaningfulness by testing street-level bureaucrat theory in a different context. The effect of discretion on willingness to implement and client meaningfulness may differ due to perceived supervisory support. Data from 241 bureaucrats (labor inspectors) in the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources indicated that discretion significantly influences bureaucrats’ willingness to implement and client meaningfulness. Critically, the moderating role of perceived supervisory support augmented only the positive impact of discretion on client meaningfulness; for example, this relationship is more significant among bureaucrats who perceive high supervisory support. This study sheds new light on the notable role of supervisory support in ensuring that discretion enhances client meaningfulness and willingness to implement.

Keywords: discretion; willingness to implement; client meaningfulness; perceived supervisory support; street-level bureaucrats; structural equation modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/11/3/65/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/11/3/65/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:11:y:2021:i:3:p:65-:d:585908

Access Statistics for this article

Administrative Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Nancy Ma

More articles in Administrative Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().