12136 research outputs found
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Trust but verify: Negotiations of Corproeal Anonymity in the Co-Present Interactions of Social VR users
No full textSelf-Regulation for Key Positions for the Public Sector and Democracy: Effects of Public Corporate Governance Codes on Female Executive Directors’ Appointment
No full textStärkung der Krisenmanagement-Kapazitäten lokaler Verwaltungen: Lehren aus der COVID-19 Pandemie
No full textBereits im März 2020 bezeichnete die damalige Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel die COVID- 19 Pandemie als eine der größten gesellschaftlichen Herausforderungen seit dem zweiten Weltkrieg. Drei Jahre später, als die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) am 05. Mai 2023 den globalen Gesundheitsnotstand für beendet erklärte, hatte das Virus allein in Deutschland 173.307 Todesopfer gefordert. Obwohl COVID-19 inzwischen nicht mehr als Pandemie eingestuft wird, ist davon auszugehen, dass künftig weitere Krisen ähnlicher oder sogar größerer Tragweite auftreten werden. Daher besteht ein breiter Konsens über die Notwendigkeit, Lehren aus der Pandemie zu ziehen. Dieses Anliegen wurde 2025 auch von der neuen Bundesregierung aufgegriffen. In ihrem Koalitionsvertrag legte sie die Einsetzung einer Enquete-Kommission fest, die ein Gesamtbild der Pandemie erstellen und die staatlichen Maßnahmen analysieren soll. Im Rahmen dieser Aufarbeitung ist es unerlässlich, nicht nur das Handeln von Bund und Ländern, sondern auch die Rolle der lokalen Verwaltung zu beleuchten, die während der Pandemie an vorderster Front agierte
Does the Media Matter? How Regional News on Immigration Shapes Welfare Benefit Decisions
No full textDo regional media discourses concerning immigration influence how street-level bureaucrats provide welfare services to immigrants? While prior research has established a link between national media reporting and inequality in administrative decisions, little is known about how regional variation in media coverage affects the treatment of ethnic minority welfare recipients. Drawing on bureaucratic discrimination and media framing literatures, I argue that immigration discourses in regional newspapers influence the decision-making of street-level bureaucrats. These discourses shape their perceptions of regional immigration challenges (or achievements). Consequently, bureaucrats adopt stricter (or more lenient) decision-making approaches toward clients with a migration background.To examine this relationship, I leverage a novel dataset combining longitudinal state-level data on benefit reduction rates (=sanctions) of the German welfare program Citizen’s Benefit with regional media reports from 2010 to 2020. First, using quantitative text analysis, I identify how immigration-related frames in regional news differ across Germany and contrast them with national reporting. Second, through panel data analysis, I examine how these regional differences affect administrative decisions. The findings reveal that immigrants face reduced sanction risks in regions where positive topics, such as voluntary engagement stories, are prevalent. In contrast, media coverage emphasizing financial burdens increases sanction risks for foreign welfare recipients. These results highlight the critical role of media in shaping bureaucratic behavior. This underscores the need to equip bureaucrats with tools to critically analyze reporting on immigration as well as the importance of amplifying positive narratives about immigration
The Pursuit of Fairness: Can Media Literacy Interventions Reduce Discrimination in Welfare Offices?
No full textDiscrimination in welfare offices, especially in times of increasing misinformation and negative media coverage on immigration, poses a critical challenge to fairness in public administration. Research shows that such media reporting shapes public opinion and deepens inequality in bureaucratic decisions. While research has addressed strategies to reduce administrative bias, the potential of media literacy interventions remains underexplored. By synthesizing research on bureaucratic discrimination and communication, this study argues that media literacy interventions can mitigate media-induced biases about immigration. Since the intervention provides strategies for street-level bureaucrats to critically assess immigration-related news and recognize stereotypes, I expect it to increase caseworkers’ awareness of biases, and, as a result, lead to fairer decisions regarding ethnic minority clients. To investigate these dynamics empirically, I conducted a preregistered, representative survey experiment in November 2024 with 550 street-level bureaucrats from 35 of 405 German job centers. First, participants are randomly assigned to the intervention, presenting two contrasting newspaper articles on the same migration study: one framing immigration negatively and the other offering a more neutral perspective. These articles are then discussed by two media experts, followed by reflection questions. Second, I measure bureaucratic decision-making with a conjoint experiment involving choices related to job placement services. The results show that the media literacy training significantly increases awareness of media bias and reduces discriminatory behavior: Job center caseworkers become less likely to disapprove a job training for individuals with Romanian nationality. These findings highlight media literacy as a practical tool to promote fairness in welfare offices
Developing best practices “against terrorists who protest”: Regional organizations as learning clubs for autocracies
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