Research Bjorn Kleizen

Abstract

In various sectors experts call for the establishment of specialized courts, because court cases require special technical expertise and speedy procedures (e.g. environmental law, intellectual property (IP) law). Use of specialized court systems, compliance and cooperation with the courts will depend on the extent to which the stakeholders concerned trust the courts. The overall objective of this research project is to get a better understanding of trust dynamics in the context of specialized courts. The literature on trust in courts is generally focused on court systems in general, criminal justice, the Court of Justice of the EU or the European Court on Human Rights, and do not deal specifically with specialized courts. The start of the operations of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), a new highly specialized patent court in Europe, is a unique opportunity to contribute original insights to the trust literature. The creation of the UPC has happened in an environment characterized by political and legal controversy and is associated by challenges of its independence and impartiality. So the question is whether stakeholders will still trust the court. Using the UPC as a case study will allow us to better understand trust dynamics regarding specialized courts and to develop recommendations regarding trust-building mechanisms.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: van Zimmeren Esther
• Co-promoter: Kleizen Bjorn
• Co-promoter: Popelier Patricia

Research team(s)

• Government and Law

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Low levels of citizen trust in government are problematic. When citizens become cynical and alienated from the government, they may refuse to cooperate when called upon (such as in Covid-19 vaccine programs). Although we already know that citizens' administrative encounters with public services may affect trust, I argue that public administration has crucially overlooked the temporal perspective. Some citizens are not faced with single administrative encounters but with complex and protracted battles against sometimes multiple administrative or judicial entities. I propose that we focus specifically on such accumulated encounters and their results. Such accumulated experiences may exacerbate negative perceptions of procedural fairness and outcome favorability, ultimately affecting trust. Moreover, I propose that more attention to the psychological costs of encounters is essential when taking such a temporal perspective. Protracted procedures with impactful outcomes (e.g., on someone's livelihood) will be highly stressful for citizens. The resultant psychological strain may exacerbate their negative perceptions of the procedure, which may spill over into general mistrust of government. The project proposes an original combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis to gain a thorough and robust insight into the trust dynamics of accumulated administrative encounters.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Dooren Wouter
• Fellow: Kleizen Bjorn

Research team(s)

• Politics & Public Governance

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

In the last decades, rankings and performance information have found their way to all corners of the public sector. Recent Belgian examples are hospital quality indicators and plans for standardized testing in schools. The fascination of society for the COVID19 indicators also attests to the appeal of performance indicators. Less is known on how citizens use performance information and the effects of information on trust in government and citizens' willingness to raise their voice. This project, therefore, asks how different kinds of performance information are used by citizens and to what effect on voice and trust. We propose two extensive experiments to answer this question. In the first experiment, we design an online budget game to trigger active use of performance information. This experiment will be performed on a large sample in an online panel. The second experiment partly replicates the first but will use an eye tracker to have in-depth insights on how people process information. The results of the study will inform the debate on the desirability and design of performance reporting systems.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Van Dooren Wouter
• Co-promoter: Kleizen Bjorn

Research team(s)

• Politics & Public Governance

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Our lives are shaped by interactions with governments. Some of these interactions are simple and standard affairs, providing only minor hurdles in our daily lives. But what happens when multiple negative interactions begin to accumulate over time, resulting in citizens becoming mired in complex procedures, negative interactions and uncertainty for years? Although anecdotal evidence suggests that accumulated interactions may have severe deleterious psychosocial effects such as uncertainty, emotional exhaustion and a breakdown of trust in government, no systematic temporal research exists. In this proposal I describe a project that will follow up on citizen's administrative interactions with government over several waves of surveys. Specifically, I will create a panel of 1500 citizens who will be asked to list the procedures they have been involved in and answer items on uncertainty, emotional exhaustion and trust in government. Moreover, these citizens will receive an item on whether they will continue utilizing appeal procedures and other remedies upon receiving a negative outcome. This allows me to extend our insights from deleterious psychological effects to how psychological states in turn influence behavior – and thus whether over time exhaustion and mistrust causes citizens to give up on rights they may be entitled to.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Kleizen Bjorn

Research team(s)

• Politics & Public Governance

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This project, funded by BOF (Special Research Fund) studies through quantitative and qualitative research the impact of reforms on the organizational climate in public sector organizations. The research is done by Bjorn Kleizen with Prof. dr. Koen Verhoest and dr. Jan Wynen as supervisors. The research does not deal with effects on individuals inside organisations.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Verhoest Koen
• Fellow: Kleizen Bjorn

Research team(s)

• Public Administration & Management
• Politics & Public Governance

Project type(s)

• Research Project