Deserving and engaged: how individual attitudes influence stakeholder engagement

ABSTRACT Understanding why public officials engage certain actors in the external environment has received considerable attention in studies of politics and administration. Building from the extensive body of research on how individual preferences influence policy decisions and behavior, I examine how attitudes towards Native American communities impacts levels of stakeholder engagement. Using social construction theory, I explore the relationship between the perceived deservingness of stakeholders in the external environment and self-reported levels of engagement using a survey of Indian education directors in Oklahoma and New Mexico public school districts. I find that public officials who view Native American communities as more deserving report more frequent interactions with Tribal officials and Native parents compared to those that perceive Native American communities as less deserving. I also find that public managers who view Native American communities as either contenders or outsiders have the lowest level of self-reported interactions with Native American stakeholders, while those that perceive the target population as vulnerable or advantaged tend to have higher levels of self-reported engagement. This research has important implications for broadening our understanding of how individual attitudes influence engagement with Native American communities through the lens of social construction theory.