Who Is a Citizen? Misclassifying People in Public Administration Research

Abstract

Citizenship is a core concept in public administration research. Thirty-five research articles published in Public Administration Review since 2009 refer to the concept in their title and abstract. But the concept is rarely defined in these articles. There is also a common practice within these articles of misclassifying non-citizens as citizens. There is good reason to believe that citizenship status has an influence on behavior and attitudes toward government. Therefore, misclassification may affect the reliability and generalizability of research findings. Researchers should define the concept when they use it, define it in a less idiosyncratic way, and be more attentive to the ways in which citizenship status may affect behavior and attitudes.