Burdening Our Brain? Neurological Effects of Administrative Burden

Description

In their interactions with government, citizens can experience all kinds of administrative burdens that carry several costs. They must look for information to check their eligibility for specific services, they have to comply with a range of rules and requirements, and they may experience negative feelings as of result of this, like feeling stigmatized and stressed. Administrative burden has been identified as a challenge in government by, for instance, the US President’s Office of Management and Budget, the European Commission and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Administrative burden has also been demonstrated in empirical studies to have a negative effect on the recruitment of police officers, citizens’ take-up of social services and citizens’ participation in elections. Researchers worldwide have, especially more recently, studied administrative burden’s effects. Current studies measured consequences of administrative burden using experimental methods (particularly survey experiments measuring intentions and attitudes, and field experiments assessing behavior), however they have not – so far – included neurological effects of administrative burden. Yet, our brain is the starting point for all behavior, intentions and attitudes, whether conscious or not. We build on (a) the lack of studies about how administrative burden affects our brain and (b) the increasing availability and usability of new research techniques from neuroscience to ask: What are neurological effects of administrative burden, and do these effects mediate administrative burden’s impact on citizens’ satisfaction with government procedures? To answer these questions, a laboratory experiment is conducted at CityU’s Laboratory for Public Management and Policy. Participants from mainland China will be asked to follow a real work visa application procedure for Hong Kong, in which we will vary with levels of administrative burden. Using electroencephalography (EEG), we will measure participants’ brain activity throughout the experiment, particularly their cognitive load (how much effort they put into the procedure) and engagement (how engaged they are during the procedure). After the experiment, we will ask participants to indicate their satisfaction with the procedure. Doing so allows us to identify the effect of administrative burden on cognitive load and engagement, and also whether cognitive load and engagement mediate the relationship between administrative burden and satisfaction. Hence, our main contribution to theory lies in untangling the relationship between administrative burden and citizens’ attitudes, intentions and behaviors by investigating neurological variables as underlying causal mechanisms. Moreover, we provide, for the first time, evidence to practice about the neurological impact of administrative burden.