TY - JOUR
T1 - Priming citizens to think about public participation initiatives
T2 - Does it impact their view of government?
AU - Thomsen, Mette Kjærgaard
AU - Opstrup, Niels
PY - 2023/3
Y1 - 2023/3
N2 - Prior research has shown that public participation initiatives may have positive effects on how participating citizens view government. However, little is known about whether and how priming citizens to think about such initiatives influences the view of government among the larger public. Using a survey experiment, we find that the effect of priming citizens to think of a public participation initiative that includes a small group of citizens on their view of government is conditional on how proximate the service, which the initiative resolves around, is to citizens. Notably, across outcome measures we a find a negative priming effect among those for which the service is not proximate. These results are highly important, as they suggest that among the larger public, public participation initiatives—that involve few citizens—may have mixed results on the view of government, thus questioning the legitimacy of decisions reached by such initiatives.
AB - Prior research has shown that public participation initiatives may have positive effects on how participating citizens view government. However, little is known about whether and how priming citizens to think about such initiatives influences the view of government among the larger public. Using a survey experiment, we find that the effect of priming citizens to think of a public participation initiative that includes a small group of citizens on their view of government is conditional on how proximate the service, which the initiative resolves around, is to citizens. Notably, across outcome measures we a find a negative priming effect among those for which the service is not proximate. These results are highly important, as they suggest that among the larger public, public participation initiatives—that involve few citizens—may have mixed results on the view of government, thus questioning the legitimacy of decisions reached by such initiatives.
U2 - 10.1111/1467-9477.12246
DO - 10.1111/1467-9477.12246
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0080-6757
VL - 46
SP - 23
EP - 51
JO - Scandinavian Political Studies
JF - Scandinavian Political Studies
IS - 1-2
ER -