Who can serve as the proxy for public employees in public administration experiments? a cross-sample comparison

Xiaoli Lu, Weijie Wang and Hao Xu

Public Management Review, 2022, vol. 24, issue 6, 819-839

Abstract: This article examines whether convenience samples such as undergraduate students, MPA students, and online subjects can replicate the findings based on public officials in experimental research. We used a 2 × 2 factorial experimental design (High/Low Help-deservingness Clients × With/Without Situational Stress) with scenarios of discretionary decision-making by street-level bureaucrats in China. The four samples showed a consistent pattern in the impact of client help-deservingness on discretionary decision-making, but differed in the effects of situational stress on discretionary decision-making. We suggest that researchers be cautious in using convenience samples as surrogates for professional bureaucrats when the scenarios require professional expertise.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1080/14719037.2020.1864014

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