Government retrenchment and citizen participation in volunteering: A cross-national analysis of OECD countries
| Author | Kohei Suzuki |
| Date | 01 July 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0952076718796097 |
| Published date | 01 July 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Government
retrenchment and
citizen participation
in volunteering:
A cross-national analysis
of OECD countries
Kohei Suzuki
Abstract
In most industrialized countries, politicians and policy makers face unprecedented levels
of fiscal pressure. Such pressure has compelled governments to conduct substantial cuts
in government spending and services. While policy makers have attempted to build a
strong civil society to compensate for the declining government role, previous studies
have not examined the link between government retrenchment and citizen involvement
in volunteering. This study examines such a relationship by conducting a cross-national
study of OECD countries. After controlling for individual- and countr y-level factors, the
findings show that government retrenchment is positively associated with citizen
volunteering.
Keywords
Austerity, spending cuts, crowd-in, crowd-out, policy feedback, volunteering
Introduction
Politicians and policy makers in most industrialized countries face unprecedented
levels of fiscal pressure. Especially, the recent financial crisis hit public finances in
many developed countries (Bailey et al., 2014; OECD, 2011; Raudla et al., 2015a).
Deficits and debt ratios of governments have reached unsustainable levels, which
forces governments to implement consolidation plans (OECD, 2011). Conventional
austerity measures include revenue increases and expenditure cuts (OECD, 2011;
Public Policy and Administration
2020, Vol. 35(3) 266–288
!The Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0952076718796097
journals.sagepub.com/home/ppa
Corresponding author:
KoheiSuzuki, The Quality of Government Institute, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg,
P.O. Box 711, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden.
Email: kohei.suzuki@gu.se
Scorsone and Plerhoples, 2010). In particular, significant cuts in government
spending and programs were pursued by most governments as a means to
reduce their growing deficits and to achieve fiscal consolidation (OECD, 2011;
Raudla et al., 2017). Conventional austerity measures include short-term meas-
ures (e.g., pay freezes for public employees, cuts in capital expenditure, and small
cuts to all service cuts) as well as medium-term measures (e.g., contracting out of
public services, restructuring management units, cuts in discretionary public ser-
vices, and public sector pay limits) and long-term measures (e.g., restructuring of
front-line services, public sector workers’ pension reform, municipal mergers)
(Bailey, 2016).
Although it is not typically considered as an austerity or cutback measure
(Bailey, 2016; OECD, 2011; Raudla et al., 2015b; Scorsone and Plerhoples,
2010), governments in some countries, particularly in the EU and other
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries,
pursue strategic devolution of responsibility for public spending and services to
state and local governments and local actors including voluntary organizations and
local communities while working on expenditure cuts (Bailey, 2016; Cabinet Office
of Japan, 2010; Fotaki, 2015; Fyfe, 2005; Lodge and Hood, 2012; Martinelli, 2017;
Prime Minister of Japan and his Cabinet, 2010; Suzuki, 2017). While some recent
research and governments report the emergence of or increase in citizen volunteer-
ing or empowerment of citizens for public goods and services in response to declin-
ing roles of the state (Ministry of Land Infrastructure Transport and Tourism,
2009; Sabatinelli and Semprebon, 2017; Sotiropoulos and Bourikos, 2014), there
have also been critiques of such government devolution strategies (Daly, 2011).
Due to voluntary organizations’ large reliance on the donation of money and time
by individuals, the success of such devolution efforts hinges on the existence of
strong local communities with active citizen participation (Bartels et al., 2013). The
important question to ask is whether decreased public spending leads to increased
volunteering. However, surprisingly, public management and policy researchers
have paid scant attention to the relationship between government retrenchment
and citizen participation in volunteering. This study aims to examine this under-
studied association. In particular, our first goal in this article is to test how reduc-
tion in government spending is associated with citizen volunteering.
We formulate and test two contrasting hypotheses based on the literature on
crowding-out/crowding-in theories on the one hand and policy feedback on the
other. Our first hypothesis is that government spending cuts are positively cor-
related to volunteering. Alternatively, the second hypothesis is that spending
cuts are negatively associated with citizen volunteering. Furthermore, policy
feedback theory has shown that public behavior can be affected by how well
or little the government publicizes particular policy characteristics (Campbell,
2012; Mettler, 2002, 2007; Mettler and Soss, 2004; Soss and Schram, 2007).
Governments often try to mask or downplay reductions in public expenditures
or services in order to avoid angering the voting public (Pierson, 1994, 1996).
For instance, they may extend cuts over many years rather than dramatically
Suzuki 267
To continue reading
Request your trial