Dealing with bureaucracy: measuring citizens’ bureaucratic self-efficacy

ABSTRACT As subjects of the policy and rules enforced by the state, citizens play a key role in the implementation of public policies. However, our knowledge about the role of the citizen is limited in Public Administration research. This article conceptualizes and develops a measurement scale for citizens’ subjective perception of their competence to handle interaction with bureaucracy, namely citizens’ bureaucratic self-efficacy. Bureaucratic self-efficacy consists of two dimensions: citizens’ self-efficacy in (1) understanding rules and processes and (2) communicative abilities related to interactions with bureaucracy. The author tested the dimensionality of the concept using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, which confirmed the concept’s two dimensions. Through additional validity tests, the concept demonstrated good psychometric properties. The scales correlate with citizens’ decision outcomes and their perceived substantive and procedural justice. This indicates that the measurement is able to predict citizens’ outcomes when interacting with bureaucracy.